In Death Do Us Part
by Love Panda
Summary: Based on Final Fantasy VII Crisis Core. The time line might be a little messed up, and I mess with the ages, but it's a love story.
1. Chapter 1 Early July

"You mustn't overdo it, Darling."

He opened his eyes, or rather is mind finally comprehended what he had been looking at for the past two and a half minutes. He could barely make out the face of the person who was leaning over him. A girl, whose hair was pulled back in a loose bun, peered at him through large, pale purple eyes. A light shone brightly behind her forming what he believed to be a halo.

"Am I," he hesitated, feeling rather light headed, "in heaven?" he asked.

She brought a long finger to her lips, "Shh. Don't speak for the time being. Not until we know the extent of -"

"Are you an angel?"

She cocked her head to the side with a calming smile immediately before clicking on a flashlight and shining it into his eyes. "Dilation; a good sign. You'd been unresponsive up until now." She gripped his arm rather roughly and stared at her watch for a few seconds. "Stop struggling, sweetie," she warned and picked up a chart. She than spun around.

"How is he?"

"Oh," the girl sounded arrantly shocked, "Angeal! I didn't see you. How does a man of your stature manage to have such stealth?"

Angeal awarded her with a stern glance.

"Don't give me that look. He'll be fine. So worried about the puppy?" She turned back to her patient, and read his chart. "Mr. Fair, I suggest you take it easy for a while. I have never seen a SOLDIER participate in so many strenuous activities so recently after their initiation surgery. That was the source of your negative reaction." She set the chart down. "I'll speak with Lazard and have him reassign your missions for the next . . ." she bit her lip, "sixteen days."

"Reassign!?" Zack sat up, but instantly wished that he had not. "Oh, god!" he groaned, slapping a palm to his head.

She placed two hands on his chest and forced him to lie back down.

He did not fight her. His strength was too depleted.

"Maybe I should call it an even three weeks. . . ."

"No," he groaned feebly, "please."

She shook her head. "You want me to let you kill yourself? Sweetie, that goes against everything I've ever believed."

He didn't say anything, but he stared into her eyes pleadingly.

She closed her eyes and massaged the bridge of her nose. "Very well. Come back in sixteen days. It'll be up to someone else to clear you at that time. Until then, you're on medical leave." She folded her hands. "If you'll excuse me, I now need to file your paper work. Stay here as long as you feel is necessary, Mr. Fair." She spun on her heel and exited.

"What happened?" Zack moaned, rolling over. Unfortunately for him, there was much less to the slab's width than he had imagined and he toppled to the ground. "God," he growled.

Angeal took Zack's arm and pulled him to his feet.

He suddenly felt very worn out. "I've never seen that girl before."

"And you'll hopefully never see her again. She works exclusively in the emergency room."

"This is the emergency . . . ?"

"Yeah, I -" Angeal's phone beeped, signifying the receipt of a message. He flipped open his phone and frowned. "I'm needed elsewhere." He was about to leave, but stopped abruptly. "Zack."

"Yeah?"

"What she said about taking it easy . . . . Just take her advice."

"Uh, okay, I guess."

Zack checked out of the hospital wing only to be summoned to the briefing room. He couldn't afford to waste time. There was little leniency for a recently instated third class SOLDIER. A man whom Zack had never met, but who must have had some authority stood before a computer, skimming over a file that occupied the screen. "Have a seat," he ordered without looking up.

"All right." Zack did as he was told. "So, uh, what's up?"

"Please don't speak to me." The man held up a hand.

Zack obeyed. The way he saw it, his career could possibly be in peril.

"Zack Fair, SOLDIER, third class."

"That's me."

"The doctor who treated you . . ."

"I didn't catch her name."

"I wasn't asking for her name. I have that information."

"Sorry. I assumed that you had paused because you didn't know."

"I am quickly losing my patience with you."

'Stupid, stupid, stupid,' Zack thought, furious with himself.

"She suggested a leave of just over two weeks, up to three if deemed necessary."

He nodded. "But I don't need -"

"We are required by law to follow a doctor's orders and when I said that she suggested, I meant that she ordered. This meeting is simply to inform you that for the next sixteen days, you are off duty. You're dismissed."

Zack had expected the meeting to last much longer, but who was he to argue? He headed to the door and paused. "This won't affect my standing in SOLDIER, will it?"

The man scowled. "Of course not. We can hardly blame you for your doctor's decision."

"Good."


	2. Chapter 2 Mid Early July

He spent seven days wandering between Shinra's 49th and 48th floors which served as a break room and housing for the SOLDIERs who had little or no gil to spare.

"I don't know how you can stand it," Kunsel muttered, sitting across the table from Zack.

"I don't have much of a choice." He was resting his forehead on the table. "And it isn't so bad. It's just . . . SO BORING!"

Kunsel chuckled. "Ha. I figured you'd get restless."

"How could I not?"

"Some might consider it vacation."

Zack lifted his head from the table and gazed at Kunsel through narrowed eyes.

"No need to look so disgusted. It was just a thought."

"I'm fine now, anyway. I could go back to work now if I could get someone on the medical staff to clear me."

"Yeah, that isn't gonna happen."

"I know." He exhaled deeply, and rested the side of his head on the table. "Nine more days."

Kunsel stood up. "You're almost halfway there. If you're really so bored, you could do something for me."

Zack propped his head and shoulders up, using his elbows. "Like what? An errand?"

"Just back up documents that need to dropped off at the front desk."

He spun around in his chair. "Mmkay. I got nothin' better to do."

"Thanks. You know my dorm number, right?"

"Wait. You don't have 'em on you?"

"No. They'd get wrinkled, but you aren't doing anything anyway. . . . And I have to be in the briefing room in two."

"Fine; yeah."

"It's on my desk. I better get moving. I was late last time."

"You don't even realize how lucky you are."

"Maybe," Kunsel replied as he turned to leave, "but you aren't supposed to like your job, you know."

Zack evacuated the bench. "This is more than a job, though."

"Let me guess," Kunsel faced Zack, but continued walking, this time backwards, "it's your dream," he said in a nearly mocking tone.

Zack shrugged.

Kunsel began walking front ways again.

"Not exactly," Zack replied, but Kunsel was out of ear shot at this point.

"Hey, Zack," another voice began.

"Hn?"

"Did I hear that you're heading to sector eight?"

"Uh . . . no."

"Oh." The man who had spoken frowned.

Zack sighed. "What is it, Corbitt?"

"It's just . . . I have a mission that I'm supposed to be getting to, but I really need to pick up my dry cleaning."

"Dry cleaning? You do realize that I'm not a delivery boy or anything like that, right?"

"Yeah! Of course! It's just that you don't have anywhere to be, and I do so . . . well, you know."

"Okay, okay! I'll do it, but stop being so pouty."

A grin appeared on Corbitt's face. "You're the best, Zack," he exclaimed and ran off.

Another person stopped Zack moments later outside the elevator.

"Where ya headin' there, buddy?"

"Did you just call me 'buddy' because you don't know my name?" Zack questioned suspiciously.

"What does it matter?" The man threw a hefty arm around Zack's shoulders. "You didn't answer my question."

"Oh. Well, first I'm going to the 48th floor, then the lobby, to drop off something for a friend. Then it's to sector eight to pick up something for Corbitt."

The man listened intently - or so he pretended - nodding and uttering, "mhm," "uh huh," and mumblings to that effect every few words. "That's very interesting," he said when Zack had concluded.

"Not really."

"It is to me. It's _very_ interesting to me." He thumped his own chest passionately with the hand that wasn't firmly grasping Zack's shoulder.

'I bet it is,' Zack thought, but aloud he said, "And why is that?" There was a faint trace of sarcasm in his voice.

"Do you think you could do me a favor?"

"I don't even know you."

"Sure you do!"

"No. I'm pretty sure I don't." Zack shuffled away from the needy stranger. "And what's your excuse for not doing your own chores? You have a meeting? A mission?"

"No and nope. To tell the truth, I simply have no interest in watering my roommate's plants."

"Can't blame you, but I don't want to either."

"C'mon kid! Plllllease! You're headed in that direction, anyway!"

"Uh, okay, I guess, but just this once!"

The man pumped his fist twice in quick succession. "Cool! Hold on a sec. I'll be right back." He disappeared into the briefing room hall, and emerged a few moments later with a decent sized box of various documents held in one arm, and a pair of wire cutters clasped in the opposing hand.

"What's all of this?" Zack asked, taking a single step back.

"I figured that because you had time to water someone's plants and you were heading to sector eight anyway, you wouldn't mind doing a few other minor jobs."

"Such as?" The box was unloaded into his hesitant arms.

The stranger leaned nonchalantly against the wall. "See . . . it's a funny story, 'cause . . . what ended up happening was . . ." He scratched the back of his head. "I forgot to file some papers, okay! It's as simple as that."

"And you can't file these yourself because . . ."

"It's a lot of work."

"So?"

"And . . ." he was beginning to realize that he had to come up with a half-decent excuse and quickly, "I'm on call."

"Really?"

"Tch . . . well, chyeah." He tossed the wire cutters into the box.

Zack didn't bother asking. He gathered the dorm number and headed to work. He learned that the wire cutters had been borrowed from a fellow SOLDIER a few months ago, and the plants that he had been commissioned to nourish were no normal plants, or not legal at the very least. Upon discovering this, he engaged in an extensive battle with his conscience. In the end, he decided that it was not his place to scold or to encourage and left the plants un watered. After retrieving Corbitt's dry cleaning and leaving it outside his front door (he lived off-site), Zack spent a full three hours within the confines of a titanic warehouse that housed the past decade of SOLDIER-filed documents. When his assignment was near completion, a SOLDIER whom Zack recognized as a fellow 3rd class man entered.

"Hi, Zack," the man mumbled complacently while skimming through some drawers, clearly barely knowing what he was seeking in the first place.

Zack, who had been kneeling, got to his feet. "You need some help?"

The SOLDIER made an attempt to mask his incompetence, but gave up the facade after thirty seconds. "I've no idea what I'm doing."

Zack caught a glance of the file over the man's shoulder. "You're in the completely wrong aisle. Go down two to the left."

He chuckled sheepishly, "That makes much more sense. Thank you." He waved a thankful hand.

"Well, if there's anything you need . . ."

"ANYTHING!?" he asked immediately.

"Er . . ."

He put the tips of his thumb and forefinger on either side of his head, massaging his temples. "I made a mistake," he whispered grimly.

"What . . . kind of mistake?" Zack grimaced.

"It's nothing horrible. Nothing horrible at all! It's something that society often frowns upon, but it's something that can't be bridled simply by someone's disapproval. People are too quick to judge and do so harshly! I have needs! I can't help it!"

His eyes grew large. He was beginning to get a feel for what the man was implying, but he didn't want to be "too quick to judge."

"Girls find me appalling, but I think they're lovely."

His eye and nose twitched.

"Today when I was at the gym, I noticed the entrance to the women's locker room. I'd passed it at least four hundred times prior to this, but I never gave it much thought. I did though! I noticed it this time. . . . And there was giggling inside. I thought I would just sneak a peek, but here's the thing about watching girls who are all, but naked: it's hard to look away. Long story, short . . ."

'Not short enough.'

" . . . One of them noticed me. She began screaming which called attention to my presence for the other girls. I fled, as anyone would, but . . . I stupidly dropped my wallet on the way out. I'M TOO SCARED TO GO BACK!" the SOLDIER finished his story with a sob. "I can't go back there," he pled, "They'll kill me! They'll gut me! They'll maim me! They'll shave off my eyebrows! For the love of god, man! They'll take an axe to my crot-"

"Stop! Did you ever consider that girls are appalled by you because you do things like sneak into their locker room!?" Zack yelped.

"That can't be their reasoning, and even if it was, I can't be expected to stop."

"This wasn't your first time?"

"It was. . . . At this gym, anyway. And it _was_ my first time leaving my wallet behind."

He frowned and shook his head. "I can't do that. You're gonna hafta fetch your own wallet." He turned his back, fully prepared to desert, but the man said something that caught Zack's focus.

"I'll give you my spot on the Wutai mission!"

"The . . ." He circled around. " . . . Wutai . . . THE coveted mission?"

Once every month a mission more prominent than the rest would arise for the third class. Only the prime SOLDIER operatives were given the opportunity to prove themselves worthy of promotion on said mission. Zack had originally obtained a spot, but it was snatched from his hands by that confounded doctor. He leered at the gadfly who had stumbled upon his Achilles heel.

"You would seriously do that?"

"Only for you," the man cajoled.

"Grrdamnyou!" Zack growled.

"Damn me? You're the doormat. You could say no."

"_Could_ I?"

"Please don't!"

He knew that he shouldn't comply. It would be disobeying orders. He had never experienced such difficulty in suppressing his wish to be disobedient. He began pacing. "On the one hand," he murmured to himself, "this is the best training session I will ever be able to participate in. Mostly because it's real action." His pacing cessated and his eyes landed upon his left, outstretched hand. "On the other," he sighed and started up again, "if they find out that I'm on this mission without medical clearance I could get suspended from the program. Now, the question is: is it worth it?"

"Come now, Zack! You're making this more difficult than it need be! Yes or no?"

He thought himself abominable for agreeing to these terms, but nevertheless he gave a penitent nod that was quickly succeeded with his comrade's accolades. "But on one condition."

"Yes?"

"After this, you have to promise that you'll stop being such a . . . a . . . pleasure seeking"

"Hedonist?"

"That's it. You have to stop being such a filthy hedonist."

"It's a promise."


	3. Chapter 3 Early Mid July

The mission wasn't to be set into action until the following day. So, Zack alleviated his companion's anxiety, and reclaimed the absent wallet in its owner's stead. He exhausted the remaining hours prior to the mission making physical preparations and resting. When the time to assemble in the briefing room approached, he donned the noncompulsory Shinra helmet that he typically opted not to adorn. He decided to wear it that day out of fear of identification. He wouldn't receive credit for his actions on the mission. It would all fall on the deviant's shoulders, but Zack didn't care about that. All he desired was the training that accompanied it. He arrived at the briefing room late into the explanation. He didn't overhear much, but he managed to decipher the objective on his own: recover those who had been taken hostage. The group's vanguard was a first class whom Zack knew well, and vice versa. He sauntered to and fro before his troops, a group of seven in all. Zack kept his eyes trained on the ground. Angeal couldn't see his face, a result of the helmet, but Zack didn't want to tempt fate. Angeal halted before Zack and placed a weighty hand on his shoulder having noticed that this pupil in particular had yet to make eye contact.

"Are you feeling all right? I can't have my sheep succumbing to illness on the field."

Zack nodded and grunted, "I'm fine, sir." He believed this to be true at the time despite having felt intense anguish a day earlier whist executing his favorite exercise. A minor detail of little importance, if any at all.

"Very well. Let's get to work."

--

The group arrived at a cave hours later. Zack was instructed to track down the hostages and escort them out while the others kept the enemies at bay. It didn't take him long to locate his charges and free them. Defense was shockingly sparse.

"Is anyone injured?" he asked.

No one spoke at first, but a woman eventually gained enough confidence to do so. "We're fine. Are you here to save us?"

He nodded. "I don't trust SOLDIER," a pale man spurned scornfully.

"I'm oh . . . so sorry," Zack declared corrosively, and arched an eyebrow although no one besides himself knew it. "If you don't trust me, that's okay, but I'm here to help. Follow me this one time and you'll never have to see me again. If you don't come willingly, I will be forced to throw you over my shoulder and save you in that way. I'm not going to let you toss your life away." He pivoted and took a few steps, only continuing when he heard the shuffle of dubious footsteps echoing off the cavern walls behind him. They followed with no complaint. The silence in which they traveled was overwhelming to Zack. He was used to commotion when on missions, not tranquility. "It shouldn't be too much further," he broke the silence and looked over his shoulder to be positive that his charges were still behind him, and they all were.

"Why are you wearing a helmet?" a nasally voice questioned.

"It's part of the uniform."

"How can I trust you if I can't even see your face?"

"You've trusted me this far. What difference should it make now?" Zack stopped abruptly and threw out a cautionary arm.

"What is it?"

"Shh," he commanded sharply. He swivelled around. "Someone stumbled upon us. He's probably entry-level, and went to fetch reinforcements. We're gonna pick up the pace a little. Try to keep up." He allowed the encumberments to precede him, giving them a small nudge in the appropriate direction when necessary. At last, the light from the opening of the cave was visible. He retrieved the deviant's phone from his pocket and punched in Angeal's number.

"Angeal speaking," was the acknowledgment he received.

"This is Holden. We're approximately 300 centimeters from the mouth of the cave, and quickly approaching."

"I'll inform the pilot."

'Some coveted mission,' Zack thought bitterly, 'Wasn't even worth breaking orders.'

The phone was down by his side, still open. Angeal was still on the other line. Zack completed a hasty head count and halted. "Where's the nasally guy?"

"Why don't you turn around and see for yourself?"

The menacing tone sent chills up Zack's spine. He drew his sword and spun about. "Let him go."

"I don't think I will." The Wutai pushed a blade closer to his hostage's throat.

Zack allowed the phone to drop to the ground. "I'm warning you. I'm a SOLDIER."

"Yeah. Third class!"

He charged the villain, unaware of his rank in Wutai.

He thrust the man toward Zack, who narrowly managed to avoid striking the man whom he had been appointed to protect.

The Wutai operative chuckled, "I've been training for years. You only joined SOLDIER six months ago."

"Holden!" Angeal shouted into the mouth piece of his phone. "Holden, retreat!" Realization dawned. Holden couldn't hear him. "Damn it."

"See, I'm not your typical Wutai man," the operative scolded. "There's no reasoning with a guy like me. I like death. I love blood. I'm never happier than when I'm ending lives. There's nothing more beautiful than the screams of the dying. Nothing more calming than the taste of iron freshly harvested from someone's blood."

"Head to the exit," Zack ordered. "Aw, that's cute. You really think you protect them."

He rolled a shoulder and lifted his sword in defiance.

"You're very stupid, aren't you?"

He shrugged. "Maybe I am."

"It seems that you're going to make me kill you. Hey, it's no skin off my nose."

"You say that, but you seem to be pretty damn hesitant. Is it a case of bark being worse than bite?"

The opponent made a single upward motion. They were six feet a part at the least, but Zack still felt a twinge of pain and blood trickled down his left cheek. The wound was shallow.

"That wasn't nice," Zack barked, "I haven't found a wife yet." He sprung into the air and came back down upon his opponent. Said opponent put both sais together (for those were the arms he bore) and deflected the blow. Zack flew back into the air, and the opponent pounced. Zack managed to avoid the next attack that was thrown at him. In this battle he needed to rely on defense which he had rarely done before.

"Do you know," the operative ran one dagger across the other, generating sparks, "what makes a hero and what makes a villain?"

"Enough of the rhetoric already."

"I'll take that as a no." He managed to slice Zack's arm, but he takes no notice.

Their blades met.

"And you'll never guess who the villain of this story is."

Zack groaned. He hated people who felt the need to taunt their competitor.

"I'll give you a hint."

He clenched his eyes shut, meditating on what it was he needed to do.

"It's not me. You're the monster," the operative hissed. A pain drenched scream filled the cave and bounced off of the surrounding walls.

Zack flinched. Sending a few bolts of electricity down the blade of his sword had obtained the desire effect. The man writhed in pain.

"So that's how you're gonna play?" he grunted.

"I don't want to hurt you. We can end this now."

He pulled himself to his feet, and stood slightly hunched over. He dragged an arm across his face.

Zack thought for a moment that perhaps he had gotten through to the operative, but that illusion was quickly shattered. He jumped at Zack with more aggression and fire than before. He was moving quickly and with sure intent. So much so that Zack was experiencing difficulty in keeping track of him. Despite the fact that Zack should have probably been focusing on the battle, a thought continually ran through his mind: "Where's that damn helicopter?" He held his sword up to block. His arm was shaking. Something was clearly not right. "Damn," he whimpered. He was than forced to one knee, and when he tried to push back, the sickly noise of flesh tearing reached his ears. Blood rippled through to the surface of Zack's uniform.

"Ahh, there's that smell I long for." The operative withdrew his weapons and sighed cheerfully.

"Don't be so proud," Zack coughed. "Damn stitches just ripped. Man, she's gonna kill me," he moaned, glancing down at himself, and pulling off his helmet.

Angeal emerged. When he had lost contact with whom he had assumed was Holden he headed for the mouth of the cave. "Zack," he snarled when he caught sight of his protégé, pawing at blood that smeared across his shirt. "Zack!" Angeal barked a second time.

Zack glanced up and offered Angeal a shamefaced grin.

"Zack! What do you think you're doing!?"

"Angeal, let me explain."

The Wutai operative laughed. "There's no time for that now." He and Zack engaged in a short-lived battle in which the latter was thrown to the ground.

Angeal couldn't reach them fast enough.

"I'm so glad you removed your helmet. Now I can see the look on your face when you die."

Zack's left hand searched frantically for the sword he had dropped, to no avail. A sharp, burning pain called attention back to his assailant. The competitor stumbled back with a smirk on his face. Zack's hand now wandered up to his chest, gripped the dagger that was protruding from his sternum, and used all the strength he could muster to rend it free of his flesh.

Angeal flung the Wutai correspondent into the wall and hastened to Zack's aid, whipping out his phone in the process. "What were you thinking!?" he grumbled, scrolling through his contact's list. "Where are you? . . . I called for a chopper already. . . . I don't care. I have a SOLDIER bleeding out in front of me, and no way to transport him to a hospital, and I can't locate the rest of my troops either. . . . Well, they aren't responding. Zack?" Angeal held the phone away from his ear and listened to his ally's ragged breathing. "I didn't think I was supposed to be their babysitter," Angeal told the person on the other line. "Yeah, the hostages are fine. . . . Because I can see them right now. . . . They're waiting for the chopper, I'd presume." He paused again. "Zack, stay awake."

Zack didn't respond. He couldn't understand much of what was going on. All he could comprehend at the moment was the darkness that was infringing on his sight.

"Zackary Eran Fair!"

"That's not my middle name," Zack grunted.

"Damn it, Zack. What? . . . No, he's alive, he's just unconscious. . . . Good. I would have preferred for it to have been sent the first time I asked, but this will work too." Angeal released a long sigh. He wasn't looking forward to explaining this to Lazard and Nadia, especially Nadia. She was rather prideful and didn't take well to others disobeying her orders. He grimaced. He couldn't even begin to imagine the kind of lecture he would have to endure. He gathered Zack's sword and attempted to take the sai that was grasped in his hand, but Zack would not release it no matter how Angeal struggled. "Fine," he muttered and acquitted Zack's arm. "Keep it. You've caused me an awful lot of trouble. You better make it through this. If you die and I'm the only one who gets one of Nadia's lectures, I will NOT be happy."


	4. Chapter 4 Early Mid July

Angeal spent the remainder of the time before the helicopter arrived attempting to contact his remaining troops and talking to an insentient Zack. When transportation arrived, Angeal was separated from his pupil, and instructed to sit up front with the pilot while a horde of infantrymen scoured the cave for the absent SOLDIER operatives. They were all discovered cowering in corners of the cave, half in tears. The prowess of this mission had been severely miscalculated.

When the chopper arrived in Midgar, Zack was rushed to the medical floor. Angeal followed, but at a distance. When he arrived at the front desk, he was directed to a room in sector five. The medical wing was vast in size because it served as a hospital for all of Midgar, but it looked more of a laboratory than anything else. The halls were long and a shade of overly sterile white. The floors had a dull, lustrous shine. The faint smell of ammonia was sickening and no matter where you went, the screams of psych patients were constantly audible. The place was miserable, and its tenants the same. He approached the door of room 522 with his access card at hand. From within the confines of the room, he could hear a distinctly female voice arguing an indiscernible cause. He placed the access card in its slot and pulled it back out when the door slid open

"Let go!"

He entered to see a girl struggling to wrench the sai free of Zack's left hand

"Let go, let go, let go!" she screeched.

"I couldn't get it out using normal means. I doubt you can."

She spun around fiercely, her hair coming loose from the bun tied at the back of her head. "Angeal," she snarled, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"It's nice to see you again, too."

"Sector five is a restricted area. You aren't supposed to be here."

"And yet, here I am."

"Angeal!"

"Yes, Nadia?"

"Get out." She thrust a finger in the direction of the door.

"No. I was the head of this mission. I need to be sure that all of my men are all right," Angeal replied stubbornly.

"Well, he's fine. All wounds have been sutured, and he's currently working on a blood transfusion and I'm trying to get this DAMN SAI OUT OF HIS HAND!" She screamed the last part at her patient who offered no acknowledgment in response. "Eh, I'm gonna have to use a muscle relaxant," she continued calmly. Nadia produced a phone from her pocket and slapped in into Angeal's hand. "Return this to Mr. Hughes and tell him that if he ever pulls that kind of stunt again, he'll be facing expulsion from the program." Her eyes narrowed skeptically. "You didn't have anything to do with this, did you?"

"Wha-? No! Zack had Holden's phone, his badge, everything!" Angeal was less eloquent around Nadia than he was around anyone else. "And he was wearing his helmet."

"What about his voice?" She prodded his chest with her forefinger.

"He wasn't talking in his normal voice. He isn't THAT stupid. I thought Holden had a cold or something," Angeal yelped defensively.

"Fine. I believe you. This little bastard is lucky that I'm not calling the board to meet and having his ass discharged."

"You have the filthiest mouth."

"Only when I'm mad."

"And you may have more power than I in Shinra, but I doubt they'd get rid of Zack simply because he . . ."

"Broke the law? Honey, with legs like these, I'm omnipotent. And anyway, I didn't graduate top of my class at age sixteen to have some kid blatantly disregard my direct orders."

"Kid? He's older than you."

"No, he's not."

"Yeah, he is."

She lifted Zack's chart and ran her eyes over it. "Only by _three_ months!"

"Still older than you."

She began rustling through a cabinet. "And I didn't apply for this job. Shinra -"

"Came to you BEGGING you to work for them."

"That's right." She faced Angeal and shot a small amount of liquid from a syringe threateningly with an angelic smile dancing on her lips.

"What's that?" he asked frigidly.

"Muscle relaxant. Remember?" She applied it to her patient, and once again pursued the sai. "He's a persistent one." She wrestled with him a little more before, at last, liberating the weapon.

"Good work!"

"I always win in the end." She bore a large grin.

"By the way," Angeal began, "I got you a present."

"For what?"

"Your promotion. Did you think I didn't notice that you're no longer in sector one?"

"Oh, you shouldn't have!"

He arched an eyebrow.

"Gimme! Gimme!"

"That's what I though." He placed a purple apple in her hand.

She beamed at him. "A dumb apple. Oh, Angeal, my angel." She embraced him.

"And . . ." He revealed three tickets.

"Tickets to Loveless for you, me and Genesis? Genesis will be ecstatic. I'm off work when I finish up here and . . . oh, look at that. I'm done."

They took the elevator to the entrance floor and awaited Genesis's appearance. Nadia had grown up with Genesis and Angeal, although they were six years her senior. She had fond memories of living in Banora, constantly trailing Angeal and Genesis on the excursions despite their frequent protests. Their decision to join SOLDIER was what convinced her to become a surgeon and medical doctor in general.

Despite having work early the next morning, Nadia stayed out late into the night and the wee hours of the morning than returned to work with less than an hour of sleep; not the smartest thing for a surgeon to do. When she finished her rounds, she retired not to the break room, but to room 522. She rested in an office chair, barely enough strength to keep her eyes open. Slowly, ever so slowly, her shoulders slouched, her eyes closed and she gave into the inevitable; she fell into a heavy sleep.

--

"Your family has a big, gorgeous apple tree. Why not just take those apples?"

Genesis shook his head incredulously, inspecting an apple on a nearby branch. "It's the principle of the matter."

"Oh, so it's stealing for the sake of stealing." Nadia glared up at the two boys maneuvering about in the oddly built Banora apple trees.

"You're nine; you wouldn't understand."

"Yes, because as soon as you turn fifteen, all senses of morality disappear," she replied sarcastically.

"It's just for fun."

"Well, I will take no part in it."

"Fine, don't. More for us. These apples sure are tasty!" he taunted.

She licked her lips wishfully, but did nothing to soothe her desires. "You're a jerk."

Genesis cackled playfully.

Angeal, on the other hand, leapt down from the tree and presented Nadia with a large, purple apple that matched the color of her eyes. "Take it," he offered kindly.

She shook her head roughly. "I can't."

"Why not? It's a gift."

"Yeah, but it's a stolen gift, and it's not your's to give."

He stared at the apple and chewed on his bottom lip. "You're right."

"What!?" Genesis jumped down from the tree. "You've got to be kidding me! Angeal, it's _just _an apple."

"Yes, Genesis, but it's the principle of the matter."

Nadia unleashed a pearly white smile and hugged the boy who towered over her.

--

Zack had finally come to. He opened his eyes to dim lighting. He didn't know where he was for several long minutes. He had never been admitted to the hospital before, thus he did not recognize his surroundings. He took note of the small tube entering at his wrist, filled with a thick red liquid. He propped himself up, sending a wave of dull pain through his body. His face contorted in anguish before he caught sight of a small-framed woman, curled up in an armed swivel chair. Had it not been for the IV, Zack would have stood up. Instead, he allowed himself to relax and tried to stop his body from trembling convulsively, willing his body temperature to lower. It took one painful hour, but the girl eventually stirred.

"Morning." A grin spread across his face.

She stood up into a stretch. "Welcome back to the land of the living, Mr. Fair. You had me worried for a while."

"Hold on. You aren't," he hesitated, "mad at me?"

The corners of her lips turned upward. "I was," she confessed, "I was very angry with you, especially when I discovered that the hospital had little blood of your type in stock - it is a rare type indeed - and had to donate some of my own, for Mr. Fair, it seems our bodies house the same blood class. However, Mr. Hewley stopped by and somehow calmed my nerves. Although, it is hardly considered good bed side manner to beat your patient into oblivion upon their regaining consciousness. So, that may have had some contribution to my behavior as well."

Zack could not stifle a laugh.

"Wow, I think you're the only patient who would have understood I was joking. Perhaps I underestimated your intelligence. My apologies, Mr. Fair."

"It's a common mistake," he nodded, "and you can call me Zack. . . ."

"I'm not sure if I can."

"Why not? You called Angeal by his first name in the emergency room."

"Yes, well that's a different story," she sighed and took a seat at the foot of Zack's bed.

He raised his eyebrows curiously. "How?"

"I grew up with him."

"Really!? Well, you don't look like you're in your twenties."

"I'm seventeen."

"Me too!"

"I know."

Zack frowned and furrowed his brow.

"Something wrong, sweetie?"

"It's just . . ." He tilted his head back. " . . . you're so young."

"Don't worry. I have acquired all necessary licenses, and graduated at the top of all of my classes. I'm highly qualified."

Her words put Zack's mind at ease, and he blurted out profuse expressions of regret.

"There's no need for you to be sorry."

"Yeah there is," Zack commenced coyly, "You've saved my life twice, three times if you want to count giving your own blood separate from whatever else you did recently. Know what?" He sat up further. "I should do something in return, as payment. How about . . . a date?"

"No, thank you," she said firmly, but managed to seem coquettishly aloof. "I get paid in cash from Shinra; this is my job, after all. Besides, I can't justify a chore as a reward."

"A chore? Ouch. C'mon, it'll be fun."

"Doubtful. In any case, I have a boyfriend, and he doesn't take kindly to other men trying to pick me up." She glanced at her watch. "Speaking of which, he should be here any minute now." She stood and walked to Zack's side. She tapped the bag, filled mostly with her own blood.

"What's up?"

"Transfusion isn't taking as well as I'd like, but then again, you are SOLDIER. SOLDIERs never take transfusions well. Damn mako. It's bad enough that they feel the need to turn poor naive boys into monsters, but to do so knowing of the medical complications it will cause . . ."

"'Monsters'? That's a little harsh. If you hate SOLDIER and Shinra so much, why work for them?"

"I have my reasons, and maybe one day I'll tell what those reasons are, but not today."

Zack opened his mouth to reply, but Nadia cut him off by turning up the lights and saying:

"How are you coping with the pain?"

"Hm? Oh, it was pretty bad until you woke up. . . ."

"Distractions will do that. Would you like a pain killer to subdue you while I am away?"

"A narcotic would be preferable. I mean, no TV? Honestly."

"Well, get used to it. You're going to be here for the next seven days."

His eyes widened. "Why?"

"I need to keep an eye on you so that you don't go against orders again." She opened a cabinet, using her key card and removed a small bottle.

"What's that?"

"Pain killer. Side effects: severe drowsiness." After she treated her patient, the door to room 522 slid open.

Zack watched the man who entered through hooded eyes. The man walked up behind Nadia and tapped her on the shoulder lightly. She turned about and released a joyous squeal.

"Reno!" She threw her arms around his neck and planted a simple kiss on his lips.

"Hey beautiful." He grinned.

"Mr. Fair, this is Reno, my boyfriend and Reno, this is Mister. . . . Zack, Zack Fair." She clasped Reno's hand.

"Nadia," he began innocently, "I have a favor to ask."

She narrowed her eyes. "Yes?"

"One of my friends . . ."

"Has some kind of medical problem?"

"Yeah." He looked at his feet.

"Is he SOLDIER?"

"No, but -"

"You know that I don't treat those who are not SOLDIER."

"I was just hoping that you'd make an exception. . . ."

"I can't. There are plenty of other doctors who would be happy to treat him."

"Why only SOLDIER?" Zack questioned.

"It's rude to interject, sweetie."

Reno continued as though there had been no interruption. "Please, baby!"

"Why? What does he have to hide? What does he want left off the record?"

Reno shook his head.

"Don't tell me. It wouldn't matter. Is it Tseng?"

"No."

"Rude?"

"NO! You haven't met him before."

"Oh well, no matter." She looped arms with him.

"To dinner?"

"Of course. I'll check up on you tomorrow, Zack."

Zack watched the couple take their leave, arm in arm. An inexplicable feeling of disappointment rooted itself deep in the pit of his stomach. He held up a hand and gripped a fist. Nadia's blood was now flowing in his veins. Was that what made him feel ashamed of his feelings toward her? He sat, deep in thought regarding this subject for well over an hour. It bothered him profoundly. "How much blood could she have donated? A pint? Maybe two?" He inspected the IV. "It's not like we're _really_ related," he reasoned aloud.

"You're not related to who?"

Zack looked up from the IV to see Kunsel. "The blood donor," he grumbled. "I'm not related to the donor now, am I?"

"I don't . . . think so . . . But . . . I don't know. Why?"

"Not all of this is one person's blood," Zack declared, swatting at the bag at the other end of the tube. "Is it?"

"How should I know?"

"Well, then ask someone who does."

"Why do you care?"

"I'm just curious. Now, go. Be gone," he shooed.


	5. Chapter 5 Mid July

Nadia and Reno stared up at the steel plate covering the slums. That plate always made her so sad. To look up and see a steely metal canvas in place of the beautiful blue sky was nearly unendurable. They stood outside the door of her apartment, her hands in his.

"I'll see you tomorrow."

"You promise?" She didn't want to let him go. He was often called away without notice for weeks at a time. She held his hands fast.

"I promise."

She scowled. "Promises don't really mean much. . . ."

"No, I guess not, not when you're working for Shinra, but if I am called back to duty, I'll come see you before I leave," he offered hopefully.

"What are the odds of you having to leave?"

"Pretty high . . ." He kissed her forehead softly.

She loosed his hands and unlocked her door, entering but lingering on the threshold.

He pecked her on the lips and said, "I love you."

She smiled demurely and reluctantly swung the door shut. She sighed and leaned her brow against the doorframe. She was going to miss him when he left.

"You could have thrown him a bone."

Nadia nearly jumped out of her skin. She hadn't been expecting anyone to be in her apartment for she lived alone. But she recognized the voice and didn't feel threatened by its owner. She allowed her heart rate to return to normal before entering the front room and addressing the voice's proprietor. "Genesis," she breathed shakily, "you startled me."

"That wasn't my intent."

She flopped onto the sofa next to her friend. "What was that about a bone?"

"You couldn't have said that you loved him? You don't have to always be honest."

"And that has always been where you and I differ. I'm not going to say those three little words until I know that they are, for a fact, true. At least, not in that context. For example, I can say that I love you." She grabbed his chin with one hand and gently shook his head back and forth before resting said hand on his shoulder. "Because, I do love you, in the context of which we are speaking. I really like Reno. I don't love him. Love is something that needs to be cultivated and allowed to grow, not just set loose because we feel different about one person than we do about others. I've had the feeling that I have for him now before, with other men. That's how I know it's not love, not yet." She stopped and pulled away. Turning her hand back and forth before her face, she noted a small amount of blood in her palm. "Genesis . . ." She cocked her head to the side. ". . . Are you bleeding?"

"Possibly a little."

She held onto the sleeve of his jacket and pulled it down to his mid bicep. "Take off your shirt," she ordered, and felt rather ill-sorted about it in the moments to follow.

Genesis complied.

"How long has it been bleeding?"

He shrugged.

"Well, aren't we in a helpful mood today?" Nadia disappeared into the kitchen and reemerged with a bowl full of water, a rag, a bottle of disinfectant and a roll of gauze. She began mopping up the blood with the rag soaked in water. When the blood was removed - although more continued seeping from the wound - she saw how very small the cut was indeed. "Oh, it's just a scrape," she told him as she implemented the bactericidal.

"I know. That's the reason why I failed mention it."

She looked at the clock on the wall. "Eleven. Do you want to spend the night?"

"I suppose."

She rustled his hair. "So . . ." She pushed the bowl of blood and water away. ". . . can you tell me what happened?"

"It couldn't do any harm. The seconds were at a training session. Angeal, Sephiroth and I went to the company training room. We engaged in a duel, just me and Sephiroth. Angeal tried to stop it and something went wrong. Apparently we were being too hostile toward each other."

Nadia scowled. "How many times do I have to tell you? Sephiroth is bad news."

"He is no such thing. He's a hero."

"Oh, please. I know things about him that you couldn't even begin to imagine."

"For example?"

"I can't tell you!" she yipped. "It's classified information." She didn't mention the with held information that she knew about Genesis, the things that they did to him when he went in for that "routine procedure" each month. She chose to save that for another time.

He dropped his guard. "Just a hint?"

"It's nothing."

"Nothing? Now, why would I be surprised about 'nothing'?" He leaned forward.

"I mean, it's something, but it's nothing that I can tell you, as I previously stated."

He withdrew, in thought. "Do they have files on every SOLDIER?"

"Well, yeah. Anyone who has been to the hospital has a file . . . which is everyone in SOLDIER."

He leaned forward anew. "What do they have on me?"

She scrambled back. "I can't tell you; classified information."

"But it's about me . . ."

"Yes, but I signed various documents upon my employment. Contractually, I cannot discuss the specifics of patient files with _anyone_ including the patient in question."

"Don't be specific than."

"I already told you too much about Sephiroth." She stood up and yawned. "I should hit the hay. I have work at four. I need to get back on my schedule. Make yourself at home. You know where the extra pillows and blankets are." She departed from the living room, into her bedroom, leaving Genesis alone with his thoughts.


	6. Chapter 6 Mid July

Nadia had an uneasy sleep. Genesis's curiosity had somehow impacted her in a negative way. His cognitive state of mind had her concerned. Her dreams were completely void of anything that could be possibly be interpreted as light. Genesis, on the other hand, had pleasant dreams, but awoke in a cold sweat. He forced himself to his feet, and noted that he wasn't soaked with sweat alone; a great deal of blood was its accompaniment. He staggered to the bathroom. He experienced no pain; his strength, however, was all but depleted. He held a damp rag over the cut. Nadia hadn't bothered using the gauze due to the minor size of the injury.

Nadia woke to the sound of her alarm clock at 3:00 a.m. She stumbled wearily to the bathroom where she discovered Genesis collapsed in the bathtub, blood smeared about. She cried out his name, and took a hold of his uninjured arm. "Genesis?" she reiterated. "I don't have the tools available to help you here." She placed his arm around her shoulders, and dragged him from the apartment. The streets were deserted. No one was awake at three in the morning. She managed to haul Genesis onto the train, and rode it to sector eight where she was finally offered assistance by a kind infantryman. Together, they escorted Genesis to the twenty-eighth floor, the hospital floor. She laid him down on a stretcher that had been brought forth upon their entrance.

"Should I page Hollander?" a nurse asked.

Nadia shook her head.

It was simply bad luck that Hollander happened to be within earshot. "Neglecting to page me for my own patient?"

"Hollander," she growled, "go to hell. I'm not going to let you treat my friend, you twisted son of a -"

"Go take care of your own patients." He stared her up and down. "But first you should probably change out of your pajamas. A little makeup couldn't hurt either. Take him to a room," he said the latter to the nurse who had spoken earlier.

"Don't do anything that I'll make you regret," Nadia warned.

"Oh, I'm so scared. Go play doctor somewhere else, little girl."

She tensed, and someone's hand landed on her shoulder. She knew without looking whose hand it was. "Angeal, my angel."

"Go home," he told her, "and finish getting ready for work."

She turned around. She had only expected to see Angeal, but Sephiroth was present as well. "You can't let Hollander be his doctor."

"Do you trust no one?" Sephiroth enquired.

"I don't trust people who have given me no reason to trust them. Angeal, you . . ."

"If you stay around here much longer dressed like that, you could be suspended," Angeal advised.

He and Sephiroth followed Hollander and waited outside the room to which Genesis was assigned for what seemed like forever. When Hollander emerged, he explained the situation. Some mako had entered the wound, and was keeping it from healing correctly.

Nadia arrived at the hospital for the second time. She didn't have many to patients to check up on that day. She was able to go over Genesis's file and learn the details for herself. She was still reading his chart when she entered room 522.

Zack sat up and smiled at her. They weren't related. It was all about genetics. "Heya!"

She closed the copy of Genesis's file. She returned the smile. She hadn't done so since the previous day. "Hello, sweetie. Looks like you finished up your transfusion."

He nodded vigorously and waved his now IV free arm. "But now I look kind of like a druggie."

"The bruises will go away in a week." She took a seat at the foot of his bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Still a little sore, but it's not unbearable. How was your date?"

"Is that any of your business?"

"Noooo," he muttered, "but I'm curious."

"You know what happened to that cat."

"Luckily, I'm not a cat. I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm human, or as you said, a monster."

She wanted to apologize for saying what she had, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She couldn't bring herself to lie. "It was all right. We stayed out for a while, about five or six hours. By the way, I'm not going to be working tomorrow. I have the day off."

"Oh." There was that feeling of disappointment again.

"I've been working thirteen hour shifts for the past week."

"Sounds grueling. Why did you become a doctor?" He had decided that if she wouldn't tell him why she catered exclusively to SOLDIER, he could at least find out relatively small details of her personal life.

"To protect someone."

"Angeal?"

"Partially. I guess that I should have said 'someones.' Anyway, a doctor, not as pronounced as myself, will be on call and he will take care of you, if you need it."

Concern took over Zack's expression when he took notice of Nadia's melancholy smile. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she replied falsely, "I'm just a little distracted right now. If we are going to hold conversation could we stick to more unsubstantial subjects?"

He nodded. "So . . . what do you see in Reno?"

She sidled up next to him, until they were lying side by side in the hospital bed. "He's hot!"

He scoffed. "Well, _I'm_ hot."

She chuckled and stared over at him. "You're cute." She relieved her hands of latex gloves. "Problem is, I think I may be wasting my time with him."

Zack vaguely wondered why she was telling him this, but he didn't mind. It was a sign that she was beginning to think of him as a friend. "And why is that?"

"You're supposed to date in order to find who you're supposed to be with, are you not?"

"Sure."

"I've been dating him for three months, and I feel very little for him aside from friendship. I believe firmly that there is no such thing as love at first sight and love must be grown throughout a relationship, but it just isn't right."

"The solution seems simple to me. Break up with him."

"NO!" She rolled a shoulder." "Why am I even talking to you about this? You don't even know my name."

He rolled over on his side so that he was looking directly at her. "Nadia Harlowe Towers,'" he stated.

"Well," she crossed her arms, "aren't you clever? Where'd you learn that?"

"It's a secret," he replied mischievously.

She turned on her side as well, now facing Zack and stared into his eyes, an action she rarely practiced. "You're a player, aren't you?"

No response came for an extended amount of time. There was something about her eyes that was oddly familiar, or so he thought and that transfusion . . . Wouldn't she need to have mako in her blood in order for it to be compatible with his?

"I'll take that as a 'yes.'"

"Hm? No. I was just . . . your eyes."

"So you noticed." Perhaps she was about to offer an explanation, but if that was so, Zack would never know due to an unexpected visitor.

Both Nadia and Zack sat up with a start when the door opened.

"What do we have here?"

"Angeal," Zack gasped. "You came to see me in the hospital. I knew you cared!"

"You don't look like you're in too bad of shape, though."

"That's because he's heavily medicated," Nadia told Angeal, standing up and straightening her dress.

"I am?"

"Of course, sweetie." She held up Zack's chart so that he could see for himself.

His eyes widened. "Wow," he uttered, "no wonder everything has been so funny to me for the pas few hours."

All of Nadia's attention was then placed on Angeal. "How's Genesis?"

"Fine. He'll be released tomorrow if not by the end of today."

"Good, good!"

"I know you're concerned about Hollander, but what he does is to benefit Genesis and myself."

"That's not the problem."

Zack felt somewhat neglected.

"The problem is that Genesis has no idea . . . and it was Hollander's idea that got the two of you into this mess in the first place. I hate no one, but I hate him."

"Gillian had some par in it."

"Is this all you wanted to discuss with me? Or did you really come to see Fluffy?"

"Sorry, Zack, but I confess to having ulterior motives to visit. Although, I suppose the motives are not my own. It was requested of me to deliver a message since the paging system is currently down. There's a patient waiting for you in room 508, Nadia."

"And you're just now telling me this?" She proceeded to the door and paused. "By the time my vacation is over, you should be back on the field. So, I guess this is goodbye, Zack."

Zack scrambled to his feet, thanking God that he was wearing scrub like clothing and not a hospital gown or this could have been rather embarrassing when Angeal's presence was taken into consideration. "W-where are you going on your vacation?"

"I haven't made plans to go anywhere as of yet."

"Oh, well, okay, I guess. But I hope I'll see you soon. . . ."

"It's unlikely. Oh, hello Mr. Stone."

"Hello, Miss Towers," Kunsel returned than stepped aside, allowing Nadia to pass.

"Zack?"

"Yes, Angeal?" Zack responded, sitting down on the bed.

"You'll never get her like that. She doesn't go for desperate guys." That was all Angeal said before following Nadia's example and taking his leave.


	7. Chapter 7 Late July

"You know, you can be a real jerk!"

Nadia propped herself up on one elbow and slid her sunglasses down the bridge of her nose in one fluid motion. "Let's not beat about the bush, Mr. Stone. If you have a point to make, do so quickly and get out of my light."

"You're sunbathing . . . in the middle of . . . the plaza . . . ? Well, _that's_ normal."

"Luckily, I don't strive for normality. Your point, please."

"You just abandoned Zack!"

"I'm on vacation, and it has only been three days. He's a fully grown . . . Well, he's seventeen. . . . He's SOLDIER. He can handle it." She sat completely upright and brought her knees to her chin. "Since when has his well-being been dependent on my presence?"

"I don't know, but since you've been gone, he hasn't been doing as well."

"So, he's one of those spoiled, rotten kids who will fake illness in order to -"

The strumming of a guitar shortly followed by a steady beat of a drum cut through Nadia's words. "_Whistle for the boys. Now, don't be shy. Give us all a song and a reason why._"

"Hm?" Kunsel glanced around.

"_Baby's got some bones and a hand-me-down. Says her heart is black but her eyes are brown._"

"It's my phone," she reasoned whilst rummaging through her bag. "I'm on vacation," sufficed as her greeting.

"Um, yeah," said the voice of the newest nurse on staff. "This is Misaki. . . . Is this Nadia Towers?"

"No, she just gave the hospital this as her number for a joke." A crease appeared on Nadia's routinely smooth brow.

"Oh, sorry."

"I was being sarcastic! You've called me at this number once a day for a week, and it has constantly been me answering! What do you want!?" Her patience was wearing rather thin. She had been on vacation for the past three days yet she hadn't had a day off, or so it seemed to her.

"Uuuhm, I need help with an IV."

"Get someone else."

Nadia could picture the nurse twirling a strand of hair around her finger when she replied, "I can't."

"Why not!?" Nadia growled. She had little tolerance for ditzy girls.

"It's embarrassing."

"I DON'T CARE."

Kunsel stumbled back a few steps.

"Go place that damn IV yourself!" She waited for a few moments.

"Oh, there's blood! There's blood! There's blood!" Misaki screamed.

Nadia jumped to her feet. "How much blood?"

"Too much! I think I'm going to be sick!"

"Not in front of the patient," she groaned. In a second, and before Kunsel could say another word, she was gone, rushing to Misaki's aid.

When Nadia found Misaki, she was vomiting into a toilet, and to make matters worse, her patient had been conscience and witnessed the entire spectacle. Nadia offered him bombast apologies in great magnitude. She wasn't looking forward to it, but she knew what must be done. She was going to have to report this incident. However, instead of doing what was necessary of her, she procrastinated, seeking out the one place where she could find something that remotely resembled peace.

Zack rolled over onto his stomach. He was lying on the ground rather than the bed. "You came back. I thought you were on vacation. Are you allowed to dress like that?"

A glance down at her scantily clad body informed Nadia as to what Zack was speaking of. Her outfit had completely escaped her thoughts. Treating a patient while wearing a bikini was - shockingly - considered inappropriate. "Apologies," she muttered and slid herself into a lab coat.

"I'm a guy. You don't need to apologize for walking into a room wearing a small amount of clothing."

"Yes, I forgot how appalling men are."

He laughed. "So, you're in a bad mood today?"

"No."

Staring at her out of the corner of his eye was all he had to do in order to get her to confess the truth.

"Yes," she admitted. "I'm supposed to be on vacation, but then you sent your little boyfriend after me and that idiot, Misaki has been calling me every day since _before_ I left, and how am I supposed to actually get a day off!?"

"I have a boyfriend?"

"Yeah. Kunsel."

Zack wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Blech. I didn't sick him on you, by the way."

"Well, he tracked me down. You look just fine to me."

His grin stretched further. "So, that's what he said?"

"You didn't put him up to it?"

"No! I told him that . . . something, and he took it the wrong way, I guess."

She leered at him. "You said . . . what?" she demanded.

The sound of Zack popping his knuckles made Nadia cringe. "You can't make fun of me if I tell you. . . ."

"I'm a doctor!" she declared boisterously, "I take care of people who have shoved the oddest things into the oddest places. I'm not _allowed_ to make fun of people."

Apprehension kept him hesitant. "I just said that . . ." he gulped, "that I had a small, really small, like microscopic crush on you."

The corners of Nadia's lips turned up ever so slowly. So slowly that her battle to suppress it was evident. Than she broke out into laughter. "That isn't a crush!" she wheezed between laughs, "That's lust!"

"Maybe it was a few days ago," he confessed, "but now, more than anything else, I think I want to get to know you, I guess. . . ." was his response.

"Really now?"

With vigor, he nodded his head.

"Well, if that's the case," she took a seat on the hospital bed and patted the spot next to her, "let's."

"Let's what?"

"Get to know each other. I have little else to do, and it's only to be four days."

The spot that she had indicated was than occupied by Zack.

And so the day when a friendship formed between Zack and Nadia had finally approached. Everyone had seen it coming with the exception of Nadia who would never admit to such a thing. Even after Zack had been discharged from the hospital, her visits, now taking place primarily in his dorm and sector eight, persisted in a consistent manner. As a result, a friendship initiated between Kunsel and Nadia as well. It was just as well. Angeal and Genesis were more distant than ever due to their increasingly hectic schedules, advancing in the ranks of SOLDIER. Although, they were already in 1st class. Nadia couldn't deny that she was jealous of Zack for the time he was able to spend with Angeal.

"So you have another mission with Angeal today?" There was a sense of superciliousness in her voice that Zack couldn't help but take notice.

"Yeah. Are you . . . mad at me?"

"Not at you. Our amity means too much to me to hold such things against you. I," she held back burgeoning tears, "I just miss him." Unable to show weakness, or rather not wanting to, she turned away from her comrade.

"Reno is gone all the time," Zack reminded, "and you're never mad at him."

"He's my boyfriend," she explained, "I can't be angry with him."

"That's a pretty twisted relationship. I don't mind if you're mad at me."

She elbowed him in the ribs lightly and playfully. "Knock it off."

"You win." His hands were in the air in a gesture of surrender.

They smiled toothily at each other.

The moment was interrupted when Kunsel entered, calling out Zack's name. "Hey, we have to get moving. New mission! Sorry to drag him away."

Zack responded with a nod.

"I'll see you later," Nadia said with a smile.

"Bye, Harley."

"'Bye, Harley'?" Kunsel reiterated Zack's words but with the air of a question.

A scowl briefed Nadia's face.

"What?" Kunsel asked.

"I'll explain it later," Zack consoled.


	8. Chapter 8 Late August

"So," Kunsel began expectantly. He was crouched down behind a bush along side Zack.

"We're supposed to block someone's escape."

"I know what the mission is. You never explained why you called her Harley."

The proverbial light bulb flickered to life above Zack's head. "Oh. It's nothing weird. Her middle name is Harlowe, and Harlowe means an impetuous woman which fits her very well."

"Doesn't Harley mean something else?"

"Probably, but only I'm allowed to call her that. So back off."

"Isn't she still dating Reno?"

"Yeah, so?"

"So, you don't have a chance."

"We're just friends."

"Oh, of course!"

"It's a fleeting crush."

"That has lasted a month. Not so fleeting if you ask me. . . . Zack? . . . Oh, so now you're going to ignore me? . . . How very mature of you."

--

"Zack! Zack! ZACK!" Nadia pounded on the door that led to Zack's dorm room. "I have great news! Open up! Please!" A growl escaped her lips when he did not do what was asked of him. "_ZACK!_" she yelled a final time.

The door finally swung open, and there stood Zack, in his pajamas, scratching his head that was full of messy hair and yawning. "Hm?"

"Keep her quiet!" one of his roommates demanded.

"Oh, shut up," Zack groaned, very out of character.

"Zack!" Nadia yelped, trying to recapture his attention.

"Good morning, Harley."

"Hey!" she replied hastily, "You'll never guess what I heard!"

"Did it have to do with pandas?" His eyes were only half open, and they were drooping further as the seconds passed.

"No! I was going to go see Lazard because my review was today. So, I went to the 50th floor - that's where his office is - and when the elevator slid open he was talking to one of the higher-ups among SOLDIER. I'm not sure who it was exactly, but they were discussing you."

Her words caught Zack's attention and he was now fully awake. "And!?"

"Aaand, you're being promoted to 2nd class!"

He stumbled back in a somewhat cheerful stupor. "You're serious?"

"Would I joke about such things?"

"I don't think so. . . . Would you?"

"NO! I should have waited for them to send someone to tell you, but I -" Her words were drowned in a heavy bear hug courtesy of Zack. "Oh," she stopped. She had never been good at coping with other people's emotions, but she didn't pull away, despite the voice in the back of her head screaming at her to do so. "You don't have to thank me," she mumbled into his shoulder. "I'm just a messenger."

"No, you're an angel."

"That's Angeal."

Zack held Nadia at arm's length. "I'm pretty sure it's you."

"I don't need your veneration."

"I know you don't."

She pulled further away from him. "You should go to floor 49. They're going to send someone to tell you of your promotion formally."

After getting dressed, he did as she told him, and she was left all alone in the common room.

A voice came from behind her. "_He_ got promoted?"

"Yeah," she replied, facing one of Zack's three roommates.

"Why him?"

"He possesses more talent in his left pinky than you have in your entire body," she responded snarkily.

"Yeah, right," he scoffed, "He's only been in the program for like six months."

"Seven and a half," Nadia corrected.

"I don't care! I've been in SOLDIER for _a year and three months_! And I haven't been promoted yet!"

"Maybe you need to step up your performance," she suggested. "Don't look at me like that. Jealousy really doesn't become y-"

"_Whistle for the boys. Now, don't be shy. Give us all a song and a reason why. Baby's got some bones and a hand-me-down. Says her heart is black, but her eyes are brown. Give the boys a flash and they'll love you s-"_

Nadia held her phone to her ear and proceeded with a haughty greeting than paused and smiled. "Hello, Reno."

"I'm going to be in town next week."

"That's great! We should get together. . . . Wait. I have plans. Do you want to Gongoga with Zack and me?"

"Gongoga?"

"We're visiting Zack's family."

"Zack's . . . family?"

"Yeah, he hasn't seen them in a while, and we're going by helicopter."

A long silence ensued on the other end of the line. Reno didn't like the idea of Nadia spending so much time with Zack, especially so much alone time with him. And meeting the kid's family? What were they? Engaged?

"You still there?"

Ever since she had met this kid, she had been different. She even talked differently. She used to sound so cold when she spoke, now she seemed genuinely congenial, and for some reason unbeknownst to himself, Reno disliked her new attitude. It wasn't her, at least not the 'her' that he knew.

"Reno? Renoooo?"

"Yeah. I'm here. I'll take your offer into consideration."

"Okay, I have to get to training. I'll talk to you later. Bye."

Before Reno could react, Nadia hung up.

She retreated to the training room which was customary for her. Every Tuesday, she would participate in a nonobligatory training session. It was primarily to improve her self-defense ability. She refused to let herself be entirely dependent on another.

The scientist placed his clipboard on the table. "We have a SOLDIER coming in to have his strength measured in a few moments, but he can wait. Are you ready?"

"Hit it!" she replied, pulling on a pair of leather gloves.

A small multitude of decidedly Wutai troops appeared before Nadia, guns and swords drawn. She popped her knuckles, something she would have usually disapproved of. She believed it a disgusting habit. A light emanated from her eyes, changing them into a glowing, lurid lavender as a SOLDIER's would when excited or overcome with emotion. She exerted little of her strength into causing harm to the illusions presented before her. They didn't contain much strength. Those who designed and maintained the tests were concerned about Nadia's health, and didn't permit her to apply herself to difficult opponents. Said opponents were reserved for SOLDIER and SOLDIER alone.

"Come on! Step it up!" she ordered after the final pseudo Wutai soldier hit the ground, lifeless.

"You know I can't do that. Besides, your time is up."

She pulled off the virtual goggles and ere long threw them disdainfully to the floor. "What? I was just getting started!"

"Sorry, your time is up. And be careful with that equipment. It's worth more than you are."

The door to the training chamber opened for Nadia to exit. She did so, but ceased her movement at the sight of Zack. "Zack! What are you doing here?" Her eyes glowed brighter than before.

"Were you in SOLDIER?"

"Don't be silly, sweetie! They don't accept girls in SOLDIER."

"But -"

"You should get about to doing the task that was assigned to you."

He took the note of the coldness in her voice. She only sounded that way when she was avoiding speaking of something. "But your eyes . . ."

"If I was SOLDIER, my eyes would be blue. I'll speak with you at a later date."

When she was no longer present, Zack turned to the scientist in the room. "I'm not the only one who saw that, was I?"

"I can't say."

"You can't or you won't."

"I can't. It's the equivalent of doctor patient confidentiality. If I told you, it would be a breach in contract, and I would lose my job."

"I won't tell anyone."

"Doesn't matter. I'm not going to risk it. Training chamber. Now."

--

Once every few weeks Nadia would donate her time to the free clinic. It wasn't a time that she treasured or looked forward to. In fact, she dreaded her days at the free clinic. Although she was under no obligation to serve at the free clinic, it was a good cause. So, every other week she would drag herself to sector nine of the hospital floor and wring out a few diagnoses.

"So," she sat down on a stool across from a female patient, "are you certain that you have provided me with accurate information?"

The young girl gave a vigorous nod.

"You have said that you are a virgin?"

She hesitated for a moment this time, but still nodded. "What's wrong with me?"

"You have contracted syphilis."

She looked down, her eyes wide, having been caught in a lie. "Oh," she managed to utter out.

"It is a sexually transmitted disease that affects many aspects of your body and your personality or mood."

"Oh," she repeated.

"It is . . ." Nadia faltered when she saw Angeal standing just outside the door leading to the clinic room. A smile formed on her lips.

"Uhm, Ms. Towers?"

"It's Dr. Towers," she corrected absentmindedly. "I will have a nurse take care of you from here on out. I am only necessary for diagnosis." She hastened from the room, into Angeal's arms. "You jerk. I haven't seen in you in a month!" she said, waving a nurse over and directing her to the room.

"I was busy," he replied defensively.

"I'd make time for you!"

Angeal made a topic shift and posed the following question, "Are you finished with work or do you have more patients?"

"I am done."

He took her hand and led her away.

"I heard that you're going to Gongoga with Zack."

"I assume you heard that straight from the source. I could not be expected to let him go alone." She shrugged simply.

"Did I imply that I found your reasons flawed in some way?"

"No."

"Than why give me an explanation?"

"I didn't intend to."

Ere long, they left the hospital floor and approached the lobby.

She knit her brow and stared at her high heeled feet. "Does he talk about me?"

Angeal paused. "Who?"

She couldn't keep her face from flushing. It was a stupid thought. "Zack. When you and he are on missions, does he speak of me?"

Angeal gave Nadia an accusatory glance. "Why?"

"Is it not a possibility that I am nothing more than curious? He is a patient to me and little more. A patient much less contentious than others, albeit, but a patient nonetheless."

"Yes, nothing more than a patient; a patient whose parents you are going to meet in a week's time and whom you associate with on a daily basis. Just a patient."

"That is not an answer to my question."

"I realize that."

They had begun walking again, but in this moment Nadia ceased for a second time. "Why will you not tell me the answer which I seek?"

"Why do you speak so frigidly to me when you are so affectionate toward Zack?"

"Your presence is unwonted. Not unwanted, but unwonted. Do you understand my intentions?"

"I do."

"I have become unaccustomed to your company. I cannot help the way in which my words flow. They simply do."

Angeal digressed. "He does talk about you and often, but he does not call you by name." When the words had left his mouth, they continued their walk.

"Than how can you be sure that it is of me whom he is speaking?"

"He let a name slip once, a name that can only be your's."

"Harley?"

"Yes, I could think of no other. It couldn't be mere coincidence that your middle name was Harlowe."

"I suppose it could not." She broke for a moment. "I missed you," she continued. "I missed you a lot, and I'm going to miss you again when you leave."

"When I leave again, I'll be sure to call you. We've hadto suppress some trouble with an anti-Shinra group, AVALANCHE."

"You'll be sure?"

"I promise."

She shook her head slowly from left to right.

"I know that you believe promises mean nothing, but they mean everything to me, and I never break a promise."

"Never?"

"Never."


	9. Chapter 9 Early September

"I think," she looked down at the ground than back up at the person to whom she was speaking, "I've, at length, achieved some sort of balance, or at least, something to that effect."

"Balance? What do you mean by that?"

Nadia shook her head at the psychiatrist. "I think I may have attained balance in my relationships."

"How so?"

"Should you not understand this concept by your own means?"

"I understand. How have you attained said balance?"

"It was no doing of my own. I discovered the proper friends to suit me and my schedule." She despised having these meetings every couple of months. It was required of her to attend a meeting with a shrink every once in a while. Nadia glanced up at the clock on the wall after an extensive amount of time spent in silence. "I have little else to talk about."

"But you do have something?"

"Not in your presence. I would not be in your presence at all had it not been for the recent regulation's update. I dislike management's interest in my personal life."

"And how does that make you feel?"

Anger flared up in Nadia's eyes. She stood and approached the door. She ripped it open and looked back, saying only a single word prior to her departure: "Pissed!" A portrait fell from its place on the wall a consequence of the door having been slammed shut.

The psychiatrist stared at the spot where Nadia had been standing moments ago than shook her head before jotting down a final note on the subject in question. _Excessively cold and hostile._

--

"Hello Misaki," Nadia half sang. She was in a miserable mood, but she'd be damned if she let any of her co-workers know this. "Who are my patients today?"

"Huh?" Misaki had been demoted and now worked only at the front desk.

"Patient files for Nadia Towers," Nadia prompted.

"Oh." Misaki spun about in her swivel chair and retrieved what was necessary. She bounced them vertically on the counter twice, ensuring that the sides were even with one another before placing them in Nadia's outstretched hands.

It was distressing news for a doctor in the Shinra building to learn that their only cases for the day were to be physicals and nothing more. Every SOLDIER was required a monthly once-over by a physician. Having your body infused with mako was a dangerous thing and needed to be monitored closely.

Nadia fixed her fifteenth patient with an apprehensive stare from over the edge of her clipboard. A blood sample was necessary for tests and acts of the like. Having drawn blood from fourteen patients prior to this, she was hesitant to take anymore, unsure if her stomach would _allow_ her to take any more. Generally, she was not squeamish, but she could only handle so much. Her face was pale and her eyes lacked all of their natural gleam. She lifted a latex glove from the table and stretched it out a few times. "I'm going to need some blood," she told her patient meekly.

"You don't look so hot."

"I'm not feeling so hot, sweetie. Do not get me wrong. I am not normally so prissy. However, I believe that I may have caught something. Is there one arm that you would prefer over the other?"

He was an attractive young SOLDIER with eyes, the color of a person whose body has been infused with mako (blue) and hair, a deep shade of brown, nearly black. His eyes traveled between one arm and the other for a few seconds before finally landing on his right and holding it out to Nadia.

"Very well." She reached into a cupboard and brought together a fresh pack of syringes. After tying the glove just above the SOLDIER's right elbow, she ripped the package open with her teeth than braced herself for the worst part. She couldn't stand to see needles enter the epidermis, and she had a difficult time watching a scalpel begin the incision. The prior is actually a half truth. She could, but it was difficult for her to observe. She collected the blood and sent it with a nurse to the lab. "We'll contact you if they encounter any disconcerting abnormalities." On his way out, she called after him, "Have them send the next patient in," as she filled out his chart.

The door swung forth for a sixteenth time.

She turned to address her next case. "You're not SOLDIER." She grinned.

"Is that a bad thing?"

"No, anything but. I thought that you weren't going to be home until next week."

"He let me off early."

The SOLDIER Nadia had been expecting originally entered.

"Mr. Stone. I fear that I must wait until the departure of my ally before commencing with the inspection."

"What's with the formalities?" Kunsel inquired.

"Apologies Kunsel, but since I am on the clock, it is best if I remain authoritative. Reno, if you could kindly excuse yourself, I would be able to conclude my work. Keep in mind that the sooner I am finished, the sooner we will meet outside of this establishment."

"Mmkay," Reno shrugged. "I'll see you after you're done here." He drew himself from the room, and made his way to the 49th floor. There he sat, awaiting his significant other's return. Many people passed. Few spoke with him. He was usually rather outgoing and charismatic, but he had been feeling peculiar as of late. It had been about thirty minutes when he lifted his head from the crook of his arm - he had been resting at the break table. It was at this time when he noticed a youthful SOLDIER with black, spiky hair. Judging by his uniform, he was an entry level second class. He fit Nadia's description of Zack Fair to a tee. Ere long Reno stood up and watched Zack intensely. 'What does Nadia see in him?' "Hey," he called.

Zack stopped and turned to face his pursuer. "Can I help you?"

"You're Zack Fair, right?"

"Yeah."

"In that case, we have a friend in common."

Zack was officially intrigued. "Really? Who?"

"Nadia."

A smile spread across his face. "Yeah? How do you know her?"

"I'm her boyfriend."

He ignored the possible implicated threat. "If that's the case, you're a lucky guy."

"I know," Reno replied sanctimoniously.

"As long as you know. I have a mission to get to, so I can't stay here and reaffirm how amazing Nadia is. I doubt she would appreciate it."

"And is it your hometown we're going to be visiting?"

Zack hadn't been expecting the word 'we.' "You're going too?"

"I have little time off and Nadia and I like to spend that time together, but she had already been planning on spending the upcoming week with you. I was kind of wrangled into it, but I appreciate _any_ time that I can spend with her."

"I'm sure that you'll enjoy Gongoga," was all that Zack said before deviating from the conversation and into the briefing room hallway.

Upon turning around, Reno's eyes fell on the person whom he had previously been speaking of emerging from an elevator.

She smiled when she saw him. "What are we going to do today?" Nadia asked.

He took her hand in his. "Anything you want."


	10. Chapter 10 Mid September

Reno frowned at Zack. Zack paid him no attention. He was too excited by the prospect of returning home.

"I haven't seen my mom since I joined SOLDIER," he told Nadia boisterously, over the sound of the helicopter's blades.

Nadia chuckled. "She'll probably hate me."

"Not if you act the way you do around me. Maybe if you're too clinical, she won't be as fond of you as she could, but I don't know if she's capable of hate."

"You'd be surprised. People generally regard me with contempt."

"I don't think so," Reno interjected.

She looked at her boyfriend with fondness. "Thank you," she replied with a gentle, reassuring smile.

Zack turned sideways so as to look directly at Nadia. "Look, just be yourself. The self that is deep down inside. The real you that you like to keep secret. The slightly vulnerable you, if you will."

"Vulnerability?"

Reno leaned forward. "You don't have to worry about what his family thinks. It's not like you have any reason to impress them."

"You've a good point."

Zack leaned toward the window and a smile crept across his face.

"Are we here?"

He responded with a nod. He had been talking throughout the journey. Yelling at the top of your lungs in order to be heard could really take a toll on your vocal chords. Hence, when they touched down he was speaking with a scratchy, painful sounding voice.

Nadia pulled on a heavy jacket and held it close to her figure, holding it so even when the wind threatened to tear it away.

Zack rasped out an apology. "Sorry it's so cold."

"You can't control the weather, sweetie," she soothed in response.

"But he could control what time of the year we came here," Reno growled.

She furrowed her brow at Reno.

"Don't be mad at him," Zack offered meekly, "because I have one more apology to make. . . . We have to walk to my parent's house."

"That's okay," Nadia assuaged while Reno grumbled:

"You gotta be kidding me."

The group trudged through the wind and sleet. Luckily, Zack's family didn't live too far and when they arrived they were received graciously by Mrs. Fair. She was a plump woman who, had she been male, a foot taller, younger and in better shape she would have been the very image of her son. Zack resembled his mother so much that Nadia couldn't help but wonder if perhaps he had been born of an affair. However, that thought was quickly dismissed when she met his father. He was a giant of a man, standing at 6'5, although his unruly spikes added another good three and half inches. His eyes, not their color, but their shape was identical to his son's. It was undeniable that Zack Fair had been granted fantastically attractive genes courtesy of his absolutely beautiful parents.

They possessed a small home, but it had a quaint, antebellum charm to it. His mother was the quintessential mother. Baking cookies, cleaning house and taking care of her family, friends and guests in general was what she lived for. When Zack entered she had rushed forward and pulled her son into a hug. Zack blushed, a tad embarrassed, but still returned the favor. Then she located Nadia.

"Oh!" she chimed, "You must be Nadia! It's so great to finally meet you." She threw her arms around Nadia's neck in a hug.

Nadia was pulled down slightly. She was 5'7 and Zack's mother couldn't be much more than 5'3. Nadia endured the hug awkwardly. Demonstrating affection wasn't something that came easy for her. "Yes. It is a pleasure to meet you as well, Mrs. Fair." One glance at Zack told her that the frigidity in her voice had reemerged.

Mrs. Fair's eyes landed on Reno. "And who is this?"

Nadia mustered up some warmth, and replied, "This is Reno, my boyfriend."

"Oh." This "oh" was different from the first. Mrs. Fair sounded sad, almost disappointed. "You didn't mention another guest, Zacky."

Zack's face took on a deeper shade of red.

"It's my fault, ma'am," Nadia reasoned.

"Oh no, it's fine." Mrs. Fair's momentary gloom had already dispersed. "You don't have to be so formal, sweetheart. You can call me mom."

Reno was furious, but he masked it, and Zack was now blushing so brightly that it seemed impossible for him to get any brighter.

"Zack?" Nadia cocked her head to the side. "Sweetie, are you feeling all right?" She placed a hand on his forehead. "You feel feverish. . . . Your nose is bleeding. It might be the altitude shift."

"I'm fine," he reassured, gently pushing her hand away and wiping the blood from his upper lip with his forearm, effectively staining his coat's sleeve.

"Can I take your coats?" Mrs. Fair offered jovially.

"I can take care of it, Mom."

"Oh no! I insist!" Taking the three coats in her arms she waddled into the front room saying, "I was going to have Zack sleep on the couch and let you take his old room, Nadia, but now I'm not sure what the sleeping arrangements are going to be. Oh! Harold! The guests are here!"

"Guests?" a distinguished voice questioned from out of sight. "I thought there was only going to be one."

"No, there aretwo. Now, go take care of their bags."

"Really, Misses . . . I mean . . . mom, it's fine. We can take care of it." Mom. The word felt bizarre on Nadia's lips. She hadn't used that word in a long time, a very long time. She wasn't sure if she had ever used it. She had never addressed anyone as "mom," not as far as she knew.

"Nah, I got it." That was the first time Nadia ever laid eyes on Harold Fair. He grabbed hers and Reno's bags, leaving Zack to carry his own. "I'll lead you to your room."

"My . . . room?" She couldn't mask her confusion.

"Yeah. Mary, is she still staying in Zackary's room?"

Zack's mom called from the kitchen, "Yes, honey, that's fine."

"Where am I and Reno going to stay?" Zack asked.

"The livingroom. It's only proper to give the girl her own room."

Feeling as though she was being rather intrusive, Nadia tried to convince Mary that she could sleep on the couch, or better yet, check into a nearby hotel, but Mary wouldn't have it. Harold dropped Nadia's bag on a twin sized bed. She couldn't imagine Zack's 6'3 frame fitting on the considerably small piece of furniture. It was a plain room. One could assume that since the Fair's weren't exactly a privileged family, they had little money to spare for frivolous decoration or any amenity. It bore a likeness to Nadia's own room, when she was younger. She had led a similar childhood, in the pecuniary sense.

She turned away from the bed, to the doorway. There stood Harold. "I never got a chance to introduce myself." He held out a hand obligingly. "Harold Fair."

She smiled astutely. "Nadia Towers. It's nice to meet you."

"Zack didn't do you justice," Harold said kindly.

"Does he talk to you often? When he's in Midgar, I mean."

"He writes Mary a letter once a month, to keep her from losing her head. This whole SOLDIER business has really thrown her for a loop. Her greatest fear is that he'll die because of his choice in occupation."

"I completely understand." Without thinking, Nadia continued speaking, saying not the most reassuring things. "SOLDIER is a den of wolves. SOLDIERs die every day and deaths are caused by them. Some don't die, but that's what their loved ones are led to believe."

Harold took this news relatively sedately. "What happens to those who don't die, whose families are told otherwise?"

"I can't say. Partially because I don't know the full extent, but also because I'm under contract." She tore her eyes from his. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't make you worry so. Zack can take care of himself. That won't happen to him. I'm sure of it."

Harold had opened his mouth to reply, but Mary's voice cut through the air. "Harold! It's dinnertime!" He stepped back through the doorway and set off, down the narrow hall.

Nadia followed suit. She entered the dining room to see a very slight, but broad chested blonde woman seated at the sturdy oak table chewing on one of her fingernails. Mary walked up behind the girl and placed two chubby hands on either of her shoulders. "Nadia, this is Harold's niece, Lauri."

Nadia offered a greeting.

A lazy, "Yeah, hi," was the given response. She didn't perk up or even attempt to be agreeable until Reno and Zack had entered. Either she had a twisted crush on her younger cousin (whom she referred to as the 'baby' because he was apparently currently the youngest in the family at the time) or she was interested in Nadia's beau. "Who is your friend Zacky!?"

"Reno."

"And I'm not really his friend." Reno took a seat next to Lauri (her full name was Laurentia).

"Than why are you here?" she asked, and leaned toward him as she spoke.

"I have time off and I heard that Nadia was coming here."

"So?"

"She's my girlfriend, and I don't particularly trust your baby cousin with her."

"Oh," she released a long sigh.

"What?" He threw a sidelong glance at Nadia who was having a lively conversation with Zack.

"You're too good-looking for her."

"Even if that was the case, relationships shouldn't be about appearance, or that's what I was always taught."

"Yeah, but you have to admit that a relationship is always more delightful when it's with an attractive person."

"Nadia's plenty attractive."

"Facially, sure, but she's rather small chested if you ask me."

Reno laughed. It was true. Nadia wasn't well endowed in the thoracic region. "You're a catty one, aren't you?"

Laurentia smiled coquettishly. "I call them as I see them."

She and Reno watched his girlfriend interact with her cousin for a few moments. Making sure that Mary was out of earshot, Reno told Laurentia under his breath, "I don't like him one bit."

"But he sure likes your girl."

They sat down for dinner. Nadia was warming up to the Fairs and immensely enjoyed the stories of Zack's childhood. Needless to say, he didn't feel the same. She noticed Laurentia and Reno forming a bond, whispering and giggling about inside jokes that they had formed within the past few minutes, acting as though they had known each other for years. It was atypical of his average behavior, but Reno wanted Nadia to be jealous. Nadia refused to experience the feelings willed upon her. She wasn't utterly oblivious as he believed her to be, but she wasn't about to reward him for his infantile conduct. If he wished to inform her of something he would have to do so as an adult should.

"Do you want to go out after dinner?" Zack asked with one of his cocky smiles.

Still ignoring Reno and Laurentia, Nadia agreed to Zack's offer. "Will you take me around on a tour?"

"Sure. You wanna go too, Reno?" When Reno didn't respond Zack repeated the question and awaited a response.

Reno contemplated the possible outcomes of his attendance and decided against it. If Nadia wanted to ruin their relationship that was up to her. He watched his beloved leave the Fair home with another man.

"She's too young for you, too."

Reno was drawn out of his thoughts by Laurentia's voice.

"I mean you're nineteen, twenty, and how old is she? She couldn't be any older than the family baby."

"She's a little younger than him," Reno admitted.

"She's just a girl. You should be with a woman."

--

Zack and Nadia sat side-by-side upon the roof of a barn, coats held tightly about themselves, watching the sun slowly lower past the horizon.

"When I was eight," he began, "I fell off of this roof and broke my arm."

"Did you spend a lot of time up here?"

The air was cold, but it didn't matter.

"I guess, when I wasn't hanging out with friends, and when my parents weren't getting along."

"Not getting along? They seem to be the perfect couple."

"They were young. They didn't know how to take care of a child."

"How old were they?" Her curiosity was getting the better of her.

"I was four, so they were . . . twenty."

"And they let their child run around on his own?"

"They got better."

"I didn't mean to criticize your parents."

"It doesn't really matter. I mean, I turned out okay, didn't I?"

She rustled his hair playfully. "You turned out great, sweetie."

His eyes were glowing softly in the fading light. "So . . ."

"'So,' what?"

"Come on, Harley! It seems like I've been the only one talking about myself. You haven't said anything about yourself or your own past. I've been doing the majority of the talking."

"You want to know about me?"

"And let me guess, you don't want to talk about it."

"No, that's not it," she stated simply. "I suppose I could let you in on a few odds and ends. But where to begin?"

"The beginning, perhaps?"

"That makes sense. Well, I was born in Midgar," she said as though she were going to simply recount a few details of her mundane life.

"I thought you grew up in Banora!"

"I did. My father died at the age of twenty-four, the day after my first birthday from . . . well, that doesn't matter. A month later, my mom was pushing up daisies. Heart failure, a condition known as broken heart syndrome."

"You can die . . ."

"Just by being sad? Yes, and those are the hardest cases to deal with. Dealing with emotions is much more difficult than doing so with bodily dysfunctions, et cetera."

"I'm so sorry."

"No need. I don't remember them at all. I thought that my uncle was my father up until I was twelve. He lived in Banora. He was living with my mother when her heart weakened, trying to take care of her. After she died, he took me to his home, and that's where I lived until age fifteen. His wife had died while giving birth, and the child hadn't been strong enough to survive from the start. So, he lived alone until he took me in." Nadia smiled into the final rays of the setting sun. "He's long gone now, though."

"Where to?" Zack asked leaning toward his companion.

"The life stream, and don't apologize again. I hold grudges. I held a grudge against him that I would still have firmly had his life not been brutally taken from him."

Zack remained in solemn silence.

"I won't tell you who caused his death. It wouldn't please you."

He was beginning to feel as though he had made a mistake in asking about her life, but even so, she had left his most prominent question unanswered.

When they returned to the Fair household, it was an hour or so past midnight. Zack took Nadia's jacket, offering to hang it up in the closet. His footsteps echoed off of the walls. The closet was off the pantry, secluded from the rest of the house. He thought he heard some scuffling of feet, but ignored it. He opened the door, then yelped and stumbled back. "Reno! Lauri!"

Reno grabbed him, and covered his mouth. "Shush!"

Zack dug one of his canines into Reno's hand and he was released.

"Ow! He bit me! I'm bleeding!"

"You ass! You're -"

"You can't tell Nadia!"

"That you were making out with my whore cousin in the coat closet!? She's my friend. I have to tell her!"

"Do you know what that would do to her? She can't handle that now."

"She's notas weak as you think she is."

"She's not as strong as you think she is!"

"Zack, Zack, Zack," Laurentia sighed, "what happened to loyalty."

"I could say the same to Reno."

"Give me a break. It was one kiss," Reno replied incredulously.

"I don't care."

"Fine. I'm a turk. I'm higher up than you are. If you make my life miserable, I can do the same to you, but ten fold. You'll be getting the kitty missions, that is, if you're even still in SOLDIER."

Zack shook his head in defeat and turned away. He spent an hour lying on the floor with a pillow under his head, staring at the ceiling. He couldn't sleep. He couldn't keep this from Nadia. Ere long, he sat up and glanced at Reno, who was sleeping on the couch. Laurentia had taken the guest room. Zack stood, and pulled himself to his old bedroom. He stumbled up to the bed and knelt down beside it. He couldn't see her face, but he could make out her frame in the darkness. "Harley," he hissed.

She opened her eyes and to see a glow slightly brighter than usual emanating from Zack's eyes. Her eyes gave a faint glow in return. "Zack? Is something wrong?"

His original plan had been to tell her of Reno's faux pas, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Not because of Reno's threat, but because he knew it would hurt her deeply, he couldn't tell her, not now. "No, nothing. I just couldn't sleep."

Propping herself up on her elbow, she replied, "And what do you suppose I could do about it?"

He smiled coyly. "Tell me a story," he said facetiously.

"What are you? Two years old?"

He turned around and rested his back against the box spring. "Your eyes glow too, with mako, I assume. I don't think you lied to me. You weren't in SOLDIER, your eyes would be blue if you were, but for some reason, you have mako in your blood, in you. If you didn't, our blood wouldn't have been compatible, and your eyes wouldn't glow the way they do."

"You are observant," she sighed at the back of his head. "Very well, I will tell you a story, although I told you more than you needed to know on that roof." Her eyes dimmed. "Once upon a time," she began, "there was a first class SOLDIER named Ronyn Towers. He was very successful, but also lonely."

"How do you know he was lonely?"

"Shh! I'm telling a story. One day, he met a beautiful woman."

"How beautiful?"

"Very beautiful, now shut up. She had enchanting purple eyes and long black hair. She was anti-SOLDIER and Shinra in general, but she still found fondness for him in her heart. Long story short, they fell in love, it was inevitable. You might not know this, actually you probably don't, but . . . SOLDIERs . . . when they're created . . . they aren't . . . meant to have children. It causes medical complications and their children will . . . supposedly, inherit powers of some sort. Powers that can create mass destruction. _They aren't supposed to have children_."

Zack spun around to face her.

"Most don't. When they enter relationships, they are informed of the consequences."

"Consequences?"

"Of course, when love is present, people don't care about death."

"Death?"

"So, they had a child. It was an accident, mind you, and named her Nadia, one who is full of hope. They were full of hope. They hoped that for once, Shinra would not enforce their rules. A year passed, and that's the way that it seemed, but then, Ronyn was called out on a mission, a seemingly routine mission. Hours later, news arrived that he had been 'killed in action,' but the widow, Athena knew better. The SOLDIER who had killed him, feeling bad about what he had done, only confirmed her knowledge. Due to the birth of Nadia, Ronyn had been killed, and Athena was to be next if she did not give up her daughter to be condemned to the same fate as her father. However, when Athena fell ill, and it was seen that she wouldn't live much longer as it was, they allowed her to fulfill the remainder of her life, deciding that they would end the child's life at that time. They weren't expecting a relative to interfere. When they came for Nadia, she was gone. To where, they did not know until sixteen years later, and by that time, it was too late. She had too many friends who would fight to the death to save her. The only thing that they could do was get rid of the only living remnant of her family and allow her to live as she pleased. And she did so. The only thing that would allude to her past would be the glow of mako in her eyes, and only when she was experiencing extreme emotion or excitement. She worked hard and became a doctor so that she could protect her friends and stop what had happened to her family from happening again to someone else." She released a shuddering sigh and whimpered two final words: "The end."


	11. Chapter 11 Late September

It had been a week and three days. A week and three days Zack had neglected to tell Nadia about Reno and Laurentia. After Nadia's "story," they hadn't said anything about it. It was just as well that Reno was carrying on his affair of sorts. Zack and Nadia were closer than ever. She had let Zack in. She had told him things that she had never told anyone else. Angeal and Genesis had never known that she was originally from Midgar, and they never would. Perhaps speaking of her past was the best thing for her.

While Mary and Harold were out, shopping for groceries for the final dinner Mary would make for Zack, Nadia and Reno, the following day, the three of them were seated at the dining room table. Laurentia entered and stopped behind Zack.

"Hey, so I'm going to the bar. Anyone else wanna go?" She stared directly at Reno whilst speaking.

"Is that legal?" Nadia asked. "No one in this room is twenty-one."

"You're such a downer," Laurentia sighed.

"Because I want to follow the law?"

"Psh, whatever. As long as we don't drink, it's perfectly legal."

"It's only five. Isn't it a little early to go to a bar?"

"Oh my god!" Laurentia groaned. "What is wrong with you!?"

"Shut up, Lauri," Zack ordered. "We don't have to go if you don't want to, Harley."

"It's not that I do not want to. However, I am not sure if it would be the wisest choice of behavior."

"I want to go," Reno muttered.

She looked at Zack. "What do you want to do?"

"It's up to you. I won't enjoy it if you don't go so if you don't than I don't."

"Do you want to?"

Reno suppressed the urge to leap across the table and throttle Zack.

"Kind of," Zack confessed.

"Then I'll go."

The quartet rode on a bus for about an hour to a larger town where Laurentia assured them they would have a much more "pleasurable" time. The bar that was settled on was less of a bar and more of a club. In the beginning, Nadia was stiff and not having a good time, but then she tried a martini or two or four. She was tipsy after the first and drunk by the second. Zack had tried to keep her from drinking too much. She had a low weight hence she became drunk relatively easily. She had ere long broken away from her group, making conversation with strangers the best she could over the blaring music.

Zack searched frantically for her. This town was much larger than Gongoga and Midgar for that matter. He didn't want to be separated from her for long, and he didn't particularly trust the other people in attendance.

Nothing of importance occurred for a long while, not until Nadia's phone rang. She held it to her ear. She couldn't hear who was on the other line, but her caller ID had told her of their identity.

"Genesis? Hold on a minute. I can't hear you!" she slurred and stumbled through the thick crowd to the girl's bathroom.

"I know the truth. Why did you not tell me? No, never mind. I know why, but I would have thought that our friendship was of greater importance than your job. I am unsure as to what I should do next. An experiment. That is all I am. Now they are threatening to dispose of Hollander. Without Hollander the degradation process shall take its course and I will be no more within a matter of months. Is there nothing that can save me now?" Genesis stopped, and no response came. No response would come. His insight had went unheard for upon entering the restroom and turning right, Nadia had happened upon the secret that had been kept from her for ten days. She discovered Laurentia and Reno, for the lack of a better term, making out against a wall. They were nothing more than a mass of limbs from what she could tell, but she knew all too well whose limbs they were and her phone dropped from her hand, clattering to the tiled floor below. In her inebriated state, most inhibitions were gone, and few remained. "Reno," she whimpered.

In the meantime, Zack's disorderly search for Nadia continued. He approached an attractive man, the kind that Nadia would have been intrigued by, and pulled him to the side. "Have you seen a girl about yea high?" He held his hand five inches below the top of his head. "She was wearing about three-inch heels and a black skirt that came to mid thigh, and a -"

"Yeah, yeah. I saw her. She just went into the girl's bathroom. She was yakkin' on her phone."

Zack thanked the man and disregarded the pink sign with the picture of a person in a dress on it and pushed the door open calling, "Harley?"

No sooner had her name left his mouth did she rush past, quitting the room in silent tears.

Zack peered swiftly around the corner at Reno and Laurentia. "Of course," he growled before scooping up Nadia's phone in one fluid motion and hastening after her. Luckily, it isn't easy to run in heels, so he caught up with her just outside the club. He grabbed her about the waist. Her demands for release went ignored.

"Just leave me alone and let me go!" she screamed.

"You're about to run into a busy street! You could get hurt!"

She ceased her struggles. "I thought you were Reno," she warbled, "but he wouldn't have come after me. He doesn't care. He's such a jackass."

Zack didn't argue. He simply held her.

"You can let me go now," she assured moments before bursting into loud, convulsive sobs that she couldn't stop nor control.

"You deserve so much better, Harley," Zack soothed. "You might not believe it now, but it's true, and you'll come to see that. It may take a while, but that's the conclusion you'll eventually draw."

She didn't stop crying. She couldn't stop crying.

Zack remedied the situation the only way that he could. It was now three in the morning. He got Nadia onto his back and carried her to a nearby hotel. She had twisted her ankle, and didn't seem capable of walking any longer.

"One king or two queens?" the desk attendant asked with an air of superiority.

"Two queens," Zack replied shifting the half-sentient Nadia's weight onto his left shoulder.

"Okay, whatever, here's your room key."

"And our room number?"

"Two-twelve. Enjoy your frickin' stay."

"Will do."

The room was anything but extravagant. It was small and ratty, but not unsanitary, and that was good enough for Zack. Nadia may have complained, but she was barely conscious at the time. She had surrendered her chance to do so.

She was the first to awake the following day.

"_Whistle for the boys. Now, don't be shy. Give us all a song and a reason why._"

She allowed herself to enjoy the song for a few moments before retrieving her phone from the bedside table. "I don't want to talk to you right now."

Reno released a low growl. "Where are you?"

"It's none of your business. You forfeited the right to that information when you betrayed my trust."

"Mary is scared to death. She wants to know where her son is."

"She is not. He is in SOLDIER. She understands that he can protect himself. You just want me to award you with the information that you desire. I will do no such thing." She was poised to hang up, but momentarily withdrew. "In addition, it will be necessary for you to ascertain your own ride to Midgar."

"Don't be like that."

"You have done this to yourself. I am not to blame." She snapped shut her phone and massaged her brow with her knuckles.

"Wow."

She looked up.

"No hangover?"

"My head hurts a little, but it's not so bad."

"And you remember everything that happened?"

"I remember that your cousin is a slut, and that my boyfriend - no, exboyfriend - is a pig. I, however, can't recall much of what happened after that." She folded her legs over one another. "But you were there."

"How's your ankle?"

"I don't think it's broken. I doubt it's even sprained."

Eyes to the ground, Zack nodded.

"Sweetie."

His eyes traveled up to hers. They were glowing, her eyes. A smile formed on his lips. She was happy.

"Thank you for doing what you did."

"You aren't going to forgive him, are you?"

"Like I said, I hold grudges." She stood. "Should we head back to Gongoga?"

"We don't have to."

"In that case, let's not." She forced a smile. "I'm not sure if I can go back."

"Then we won't."

"But your family . . ."

"Will understand."

She resumed her seat again, but on the foot of the bed that Zack had occupied. "This feeling, it's weird."

Zack leaned forward.

"I can't tell what it is. It's deep in the pit of my stomach, and it makes my entire body feel numb. It makes my eyes burn. It's . . . almost painful. Is it anguish?"

"Maybe you felt more for him than you cared to admit."

"No, that isn't it. I think this reaction roots from the betrayal." She sidled up close to him. "But I don't need Reno, not with a friend like you."


	12. Chapter 12 October

Nadia and Zack returned to Midgar ahead of schedule. She had apologized profusely to Mary, and Mary said that everything was fine, but that didn't ease Nadia's guilt. They fell back into the norm.

Nadia gazed into the eyes of one of her newest patients. "What exactly happened?"

"I was on a mission."

"Yes, I had already derived that."

"Than . . . I don't know."

"You had a seizure, but is there anything that you remember that seems to be of more importance than anything else, or even something that does not seem important."

"There was a sharp pain."

"Where?"

"I don't remember."

"With what I have to operate with, my first presumption would be that you may have a brain tumor. I am going to order a computerized axial tomography scan."

"A what?"

She arched an eyebrow. "A CAT scan."

"Oh."

She called to a nurse. It was difficult for her to mask her anger. Clearly there had been a mistake. There was no way something massive enough to give a man a seizure should have been overlooked, nor could it have developed within the course of a month. Someone had neglected to run a test the previous month. "A computerized . . . a CAT scan will be a necessity, and look up who gave him his last physical."

"I don't have to look it up. It was Hollander."

"Was it now?"

"That's why they're considering career termination. He's been messing up on all of his cases and experiments."

"_I know the truth,"_ Genesis's voice said in Nadia's head,_ "An experiment. That is all I am. Now they are threatening to dispose of Hollander. Without Hollander the degradation process shall take its course and I will be no more within a matter of months. Is there nothing that can save me now?"_

Those words. She had heard them, but she hadn't been able to comprehend their meaning at the time. She whipped her phone out of her lab coat's pocket and punched in Genesis's number. She entered it wrong twice. Her hands were shaking, causing her to hit the wrong buttons.

Ring. Another ring. A third, a fourth, a fifth. No answer, not a human's answer. An automated voice, informing her of his inability to answer his phone at the time replied in his place.

"Genesis, this is Nadia. I know you're probably busy, and I'm sorry it took me so long to get back to you! I wasn't exactly sober when you called me, and there were other things going, but I'm here now. Don't give up hope. You can be saved and you will. Call me back. I'll be here. You aren't alone." She hung up her phone and frowned at the image that acted as her wallpaper. It was a picture of her, Angeal and Genesis in Banora. Angeal was the only one smiling. Genesis was offering Nadia an apple. The latter was just sitting there, staring at the camera.

--

Zack stared up at the night sky over sector eight. He had another mission the following day, but his current mission was to locate Nadia. She wasn't in the Shinra building. That left the rest of Midgar to be searched. He walked out into the town center and there he saw his prey, seated on the edge of the fountain staring intently at her phone which lay open in the palm of her hand. She didn't notice his presence until he was standing directly before her. Her eyes traveled from the base of his shoes to his face where they lingered intensely. "Zack."

"Hey, Harley. Are you waiting for a call or something?"

"No," she replied bitterly. "Wait . . . sorry, I shouldn't be a jerk."

"Erm, I guess it was a stupid question."

"Let's start again," she said with a smile. "Hello Zack. How are you today?"

He bobbed his head from one side to the other before replying, "Fine."

"That's good, that's good!"

"And you?"

"Do you want the truth or the answer that will get you out of this conversation quicker?"

"The truth of course! Believe it or not, I enjoy talking to you. You're not as dull as most of the others in Shinra."

"Do you think so?"

He nodded at sat beside her.

"I'm not doing so well. I'm worried about one of my friends. They won't answer my calls." She had purposely avoided using a gender specific pronoun.

"Do I know them?"

"You may know of them, but I doubt you know them personally." Fighting the temptation to smash her phone against the ground, she glanced to the right to make eye contact with Zack. "They, that friend I am worried about, they scare me so much, their actions, and their words. They aren't who they used to be." She shook her head. "No, maybe they are the same. I can't tell. During out last conversation, it was so peculiar, the things that he said. It wasn't even a conversation. Words were given, but not exchanged. They're frightened as well. Frightened of what was once unknown, and what remains so."

"They're 'frightened'?"

"You would be too, if you were in their position."

"Maybe I would."

The sky above was dark, which was only natural; it was night, after all.

"It's awfully late."

She peered up at the stars. "I suppose it is."

His eyes traveled from the sky to his companion. "Do you live far from here?"

Her face remained trained to the heavens. "A decent distance."

"Midgar can be dangerous at night, if you have to wander too far from beneath the streetlights."

"I've been out later."

"Okay, it's your decision."

"What's my decision?"

"I was going to offer to let you spend the night in the common room."

She looked at the ground than back up again. "Could I?" This was uncharacteristically accepting of her.

His eyes narrowed.

"What?"

"That wasn't the answer that I was expecting."

She removed herself from the fountain's low standing wall. "So it was an offer of civility and nothing more? I can deal with that if I must."

"No, that wasn't it! I was just surprised. I thought that I would have to put in some effort to persuade you."

"I'm in an odd mood today. I don't want to be left to my own."

He too, vacated his place and took Nadia's hand. "Well then, come on."

They entered the room and Nadia placed herself on the overstuffed couch.

"Hungry?"

"Have you lost the ability to form complete sentences?"

"Have you lost the ability to give direct answers to questions?"

"I've never answered question in an instantaneous manner. I am not hungry. Have you looked at the time? If I ate now it would be impossible for me to burn off the unnecessary calories."

"If you don't need anything, than I'll be going to be-"

"Don't leave me now. Can't you stay a while? I apologize for my neediness, but -"

Zack flopped down beside her. "What's your power?" he asked casually.

"Power?"

It was difficult to discuss something that they had silently agreed not to discuss, but he felt that it must be done. "In Midgar you told me a 'story.' You said that children of SOLDIERs supposedly would exhibit powers. Do you?"

"No. None. I believe that it's just a myth that cretins choose to believe and preach as fact to the masses. This couch is really too comfortable for its own good," she concluded with a yawn.

"Avoiding the subject?"

"No, there's nothing else to say about the matter." She slouched against him lazily. "You're going on a mission tomorrow."

"Yeah."

"That's why you wanted to see me. Are you going with Angeal?"

"No. It's a two man mission. The leader is a new first class, named Ackerly."

"Whatever the case, be careful. I don't want to have to treat you again. Although, I am now officially considered your doctor." Her eyes were half open. The threat of sleep was looming ever closer. "So, my treating you at some point is inevitable."

'She smells so good.' His mind gave a silent groan. 'She'd be so disgusted if she could hear my thoughts. My nose is bleeding again. Quick, wipe it away before she notices.' He did as his mind ordered. She was so close to him. He'd kept these urges hidden for so long. Now, they were threatening to explode. He had to do something to get his mind off of it before he did something that he would regret.

"Are you okay, Zack?" Her voice attracted his thoughts.

"I'm fine. I'm good. Everything is good. Everything is fine."

A voice foreign to the conversion prior to this point interrupted the suspicious silence that had followed Zack's asseveration. "Hey kid, talk to me over here for a moment." One of Zack's three roommates had emerged from his dorm.

Zack complied with the request, apologizing for disturbing Nadia's rest. "What?"

"If you're gonna be doing her, don't do it on our couch. I have to sit there too, you know." He had said it just low enough so that Nadia couldn't hear them.

"What!?" Zack jumped back. "Don't say that!"

"Oh, sorry, 'making love.'" He shook his head in disgust.

"I didn't mean it like that! I meant that she's . . . _we're_ not like that, you pervert!"

"Whatever, just not on the couch." He spun on his heel and made his exit. He paused just within the frame of the door. "If you do," he said, audible to Nadia as well as the intended target, "I'll have to report you. Than your 'not-relationship' will be on file."

"It is not a relationship," Nadia scolded, "and you are no more than an idiot for thinking otherwise."

The man retreated to his room.

"Sweetie, come sit down again." She waited a moment, but no response came. "Zack, sweetie?" She turned around and looked at him. "What's wrong?"

"I'm not feeling so well."

"Is it because of what he said? Ignore him. People can never seem to understand that people of the opposite gender can stay friends, and don't have to be in a committed relationship."

"No, that's not it. I'm just tired."

"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow morning, I suppose."

"Don't count on it. I have to get up really early."

"In that case, I'll talk to you when you get back."

He hesitated a moment. "Yeah, okay." He lied down on his bed, and stared in a daydream type haze. "An idiot for thinking that we're more than friends? I guess that makes me one too. Pathetic. Simply pathetic." His mind wouldn't stop buzzing. He felt ridiculous. The buzzing continued into his dreams. His dreams of whom else but Nadia. He hated his mind now.

Nadia tossed and turned on her makeshift bed. The way that Zack had left, the manner in which his words had been spoken, something wasn't right. She wanted to enter his room and demand that he tell her what was troubling him, but she denied herself this impulse. No good could come of it. There were blankets in the closet, but she did not fetch them. Where she was situated was fine for the time being.

An hour or so passed. Her eyes closed. She dreamt. Genesis was there. So was Angeal. They were in Banora as they oft were in her dreams. They sat beneath the large tree on Genesis's family's property, staring at the rushing water in a river that passed through the land. A bird flew overhead, and Nadia sang its praise.

"I wish that I could fly," she sighed merrily.

"What a dumb wish."

"Don't spit on other's dreams, Genesis," Angeal said gently. "Nadia." He turned to look at her. "Don't listen to him. Embrace your dreams."

Genesis scowled. "_Whistle for the boys. Now don't be shy. Give us all a song and a reason why. Baby's got some bones and a hand-me-down. Says her heart is black, but her eyes are brown._"

Angeal and Nadia glanced at each other, heads cocked to the side, completely confused with what was going on.

"_Give the boys a flash and they'll love you so. Give the girl some cash because your mother said so._"

Nadia sat up.

"_Take her out to look at the queen and any old girl who's in between. Lay yourself down by the side of the bed. Oh, you naughty girl -_"

"HELLO!" she practically screamed into the mouthpiece of her phone. "Genesis!"


	13. Chapter 13 Early November

"Genesis!"

"Genesis?"

"Oh, my angel. What brings you to call at such an hour?"

"I promised."

Her eyes were weary. "But you have already fulfilled your promise to me."

"Do you not want me to call?"

"You know that was not the intent behind my words. Shock is all."

Angeal began speaking of his mission and Nadia listened completely content in hearing her friend's voice. The words that he spoke were comforting to no one's ears, but Nadia's. She could have sat there for hours, not saying a word. As long as the voice was Angeal's, nothing else in the world mattered. He spoke of many things. Banora, the future, books, Shinra, Nadia's job, socks, hand sanitizer and most importantly - to Nadia - Hollander. Yet, all of the things that he said and discussed were oddly familiar. It had all been said before. Still, she was utterly absorbed until a foreign noise reached her ears. It was no noise that she had heard before. She could only describe it as the sound of nothingness, void, nullity. It was the sound of the absence of sound, of silence, but it wasn't silent. Altogether ineffable.

"I will return, my angel, but first, I must investigate something." Nadia placed her phone on the coffee table before the couch, and got to her feet. She let the sound that was no sound run over her. "Hello," she called gently, against better instinct, "is anybody here?"

Nothing. For a long time, nothing, and then a single word. "Yes."

The voice had come from behind her. It was surprising that Nadia hadn't seen the source beforehand. Nadia turned around to see a small girl, of about ten, with raven hair, seated in the corner. Her dress, which Nadia could only assume used to be white, was stained from top to bottom with rusty dried blood. But Nadia was more concerned with what was resting in the girl's lap.

"What is that you have there?"

The girl didn't look up from her knees. "A sword."

'Not just any sword. That's Angeal's sword.'

She held the hilt to her forehead. Her face remained hidden from Nadia's sight.

"That does not belong to you, little one."

"No."

At least she was honest.

"Why don't you give it here?"

The girl shrunk away. "No. You've taken enough from me!"

"What have I taken?"

"Everything!" The sound of sobs filled the air, and blood ran down the girl's face as she screamed. "Why!?"

Nadia was taken aback. "What are you talking about?" Her eloquence was slipping away.

"Why did you abandon me!? _Why did you leave me!?_"

She took a step back. "I . . . Who are you?"

The girl slowly lifted her eyes and her hair fell away from her face. Just when the black veil that was shading her features was about to fall away . . .

"Hey!"

Nadia sat up, bumping heads with a man who had been leaning over her.

Contempt gleamed in his eye for some time, as though it had been her intention to bash heads upon waking, before he gave her his reason for disturbing her. "Your phone has been ringing off and on for the past thirty minutes." He waved the object in her face.

"_Lay yourself down by the side of the bed. Oh, you naughty girl, you know you tickle me red. You look so dumb and you sound so twee. _-"

"This is Nadia," suited her greeting.

"We had the results from the CT analyzed."

"And?"

"You were right."

"I'll be there in a moment's time."

Nadia entered 0 floor of the Shinra building - the hospital spread out beneath the city - and hastened to sector five. "Is it cancerous?" were the first words out of her mouth.

Misaki retrieved the file and gave a nod.

"It is much larger than I assumed it would be," Nadia said with a shaky sigh.

Misaki leaned forward in her chair. "Is he gonna live?"

Nadia's back was to the nurse. "It has spread so far. . . . It's a wonder his leg is not paralyzed as it is. We may be too late."

A solemn silence ensued, broken by Misaki.

"What are you gonna do?"

Concentration wouldn't present itself to Nadia. All she could think about was Hollander and how all of this could have been avoided had he done his job. How many other cases had been overlooked? And for how long? How many deaths could have been prevented?

"I need my files for the day."

"Speak of the devil." Anger seized Nadia. "They're still giving you cases!?" she demanded of her unsuspecting victim.

"I'm afraid I have no time for your lectures, Miss Towers."

"Make time! Are you Mr. River's primary physician?"

Hollander gave a resolute nod which stoked her anger.

"How many checkups have you botched!? You're supposed to run a full body scan! FULL BODY SCAN."

"It's a waste of money."

"No, it's not! It could have saved Mr. River's life. Anything that saves lives is NOT a waste of money! Now, thanks to your neglect, there are over forty SOLDIERs that need to be rechecked this month! If Lazard won't do it, than _I_ will take you off of these cases!"

"You don't have the authority -"

She held up her badge. "In this sector, I do. Go find work in the emergency room." She gave him a shove. "Mr. River is going to die," she moaned. "What am I to do, Misaki!? I cannot allow this, nor can I block it. Patients have died from blood loss, head trauma, never from something as preventable as this. I must tell him. I am left with no choice." She dragged herself away from the front desk and to room 507.

Crosby Rivers was sitting upright in bed. "Hi, Dr. Towers! I'm feeling much better today."

"I am glad to hear that. Unfortunately, I have dystopian news to impart upon you. We gave you a CT yesterday."

"I know."

"And I am afraid that the results were not satisfactory. I was correct in my assumptions, but I did not know the extent of the damage until this morning." She took a pause. There was no way to soften the blow, though she frantically searched her brain for one. "You have cancer. It is too late for surgery and chemotherapy to eliminate the infection. It would do no good. You have a month . . . if you're lucky."

--

Down. Up. Down. Up. Down. Up. Down. One. Two. Three. One. Two. Three. One. Two. Three. One.

"You should go for it."

"Go . . . for what?" Zack grunted and paused in the middle of sit up.

Kunsel leered at him. "You know."

"No, I don't." Zack started up again. Down. Up. Down.

"Long, brown hair. Sarcastic, biting attitude. Cold, _purple_ eyes."

"Harley? . . . What's the point . . . in that?"

"Man, you seriously need a girlfriend."

Up. He stopped mid-sit up. "Not as much as you do." Down. "Besides . . . I'm not good . . . at handling . . . rejection."

"Rejection? Yeah, right."

"Ha. . . . You don't know . . . Harley so well."

"I take it the rumors aren't true."

Zack rested on the ground for a moment. "What rumors?"

"You aren't much of a gossiper."

"I didn't realize SOLDIER was so big on gossip. What have they been saying?"

"It's nothing bad. Everyone thinks you're already dating. I would too, if I didn't know any better. Why not, though?"

"Why do you think? She doesn't like me. Not in that way, at least."

"How do you know?"

"She told me. She actually said it to someone else, but she knew I was there and that I heard. It wasn't like it was just to spite me either. I don't think she even suspects that I still like her, and I don't. Not as much as I used to. In a while, it will be nothing more than a memory."

"A four and a half month long memory that you took home to mom."

"I don't care how long it lasted. Feelings fade."

"I don't buy it."

"Doesn't matter. I'm tired of talking about this. I'm gonna go home." Zack pulled himself up, off the ground, and abandoned Kunsel in the break area. Zack's phone beeped, notifying the receipt of a new message than again, warning him that his inbox was full. He had neglected to read anything that wasn't regarding missions for the past few days. Had something of interest been present, he would have read it. Now, there were two messages he wished to read. The first was from Angeal; the subject: Training.

"_As you may have noticed, the training room has been booked solid as of late. We wouldn't want you to fall too far out of shape. Long story short, you have a slot coming up next month. Check in on the files for the full details. I'll see you then,_

_Angeal._"

The second was from Nadia. It had been sent and received days ago, but Zack hadn't bothered with it. There was no subject.

"_Hello Sweetie. I am sorry for contacting you in this manner, but I doubt that I could bring myself to actually speak about this issue. It is nothing of grave importance. So, you may as well discard this message as it matters little in the grand scheme of all that is going on. One of my patients is dying. There is nothing that I can do to stop it. I did not know who else to contact regarding this. Angeal is too busy for my problems. Genesis could not care any less. You are my only friend now, it would seem. His death could have been avoided. I should not bother you any longer._

_-Nadia_"

Zack debated for a long time about how to respond to this. Should he send a message or go meet her in person? He decided to take the middle ground.

"_Sorry for not replying immediately. I'll be over right away._"

Seconds later another message reached his phone.

"_I'm at work._"

'Like that's gonna stop me.' He didn't send this in a message, but he thought it.

He was able to locate her at the nurse's station. She was staring at her feet, unseeingly. He whispered her name once upon seeing her. She appeared so small, forsaken and lost. Her face was pale. Her eyes were large. Her limbs were trembling.

"Harley." Zack knelt beside her.

"He's gone," she stated, "forever. I failed. Nevertheless, I entered this profession braced for failure."

Zack said nothing. There was nothing he could say. He didn't know much about the situation and he would not lie to her. Not if he could avoid it.

She released a shuddering sigh. No tears would come. She wouldn't allow it.

"I'm sorry. I have no words of comfort to offer."

"I don't need comforting words. I thought I needed a shoulder to cry on. But I am able to suppress my tears. Even so, your presence is comfort enough." She frowned. "I'll kill Hollander. This is all his fault. If it's the last thing that I do, I'll kill him."


	14. Chapter 14 Early December

He stared. He stared at his shivering hands. No choice had been left to him. Everyone was against him now, even Nadia. Genesis stood and sent one final email.

"_Nadia. I fear that this is the end._"

--

Zack emerged into a hall bustling with people, all running about comparable to chickens rushing around with their heads chopped off. "What's going on!?" he demanded, but his order went unheeded. He scrambled to the 49th floor. He had an appointment at the training room to keep. "Angeal, people are going crazy out there!"

"Yes, I noticed. It will give us more time to train."

"What's happening?"

"It has nothing to do with you or your training. Now, get into the chamber."

Zack glared at Angeal before swiping the goggles from his hands and entering the chamber as commanded.

--

"I saw this coming! I saw it coming all along. Yet, I did nothing."

Lazard frowned. "Why is that?"

"I thought that he would pull out of it. Don't do anything to him. Let me speak with him. I can bring him back! He just wants to save Hollander. No, he wants to save himself, but you're threatening to lock his only hope away," Nadia growled.

"I thought you hated Hollander."

"I do! But my love for Genesis outweighs my hatred for Hollander. If you could assure the prior that someone else could care for him, he would come back without question."

"I could say that, but it wouldn't be the truth. Hollander is too proud. He won't share his methods."

"Than _force_ them from him! Burn them out of him!"

"He can endure more than you think. In any case, Genesis took Hollander."

She massaged the bridge of her nose, and stood up, knocking over her chair. "Give me a chance to bring him back," she yelled and slammed her fist onto his desk.

"I'll take your offer into consideration. I have others to interview."

She was dismissed from his office, forced to wander the halls. She had nothing to accomplish. Ere long, she approached the training room doors. She had been told that she could find Angeal there. The information had been accurate. Angeal was in the training chamber, but when he saw Nadia he exited into the main room. The usual scientist wannabe wasn't in the control area.

"I didn't realize that you were allowed to leave your protégé alone in the training chamber."

"He'll be fine. I can still keep an eye on him from my phone."

It was only then that Nadia recognized who was training. "Hey! Look at him go. He's not half bad. I wouldn't imagine that coming from him. He's such a sweetheart."

Angeal smiled. "Are you okay?"

"Yes. Why wouldn't I be?"

"You were just interviewed about Genesis."

"Yes, that is true. I cannot say that I was entirely shocked though."

"I agree." He held up his forefinger and put the phone to his ear. "Zack, is it going smoothly? . . . Those were Wutai troops in disguise. Next you need to head to the area up the stairs. . . . Yeah, but before that you'll need to deal with the intruders at the station. . . . You'll see what I mean. Don't wear yourself out. . . . Just a little." He hung up and looked back over at Nadia who had by this time, taken a seat at the computer.

She pulled up a video of the virtual training on the screen. "If I could just speak with him," Nadia sighed, "maybe I could convince him that what he is doing is flawed and persuade him to return to SOLDIER. If he does not, they will kill him. You know that."

Angeal said nothing.

"You have been in contact with him since he left."

"I -" He didn't remove his eyes from his phone's screen.

"He made you an offer. An offer that you are having difficulty in refusing, did he

not?"

"He is first and foremost my ally."

"Understandable. Maybe you should accept his offer, or say that you will and

bring him back. I believe that we can."

"That would not be honest." Angeal than held the phone back up to his ear. "I

suppose that will have to do. . . . Head toward the stairway." He hung up again. "You aren't supposed to be watching that."

She watched Zack bob between the crowd of people who were running in the opposite direction. "As his doctor, I have the right to monitor training sessions, if I feel that they may be putting my patient's life at risk."

"Why would his life be at risk?"

"People have been killed by the things in these chambers. They're virtual, but the power they possess is all too real, and they can draw blood. They can kill." She leaned in to get a better look at the image on the screen. "He has the strength of a 1st."

"But the attention span of a dog."

"I think he's ready to be a 1st."

"He was just promoted to 2nd."

"I know."

Angeal watched, intensity gleaming in his eyes. "I hate to say this, but you may be right. . . ."

They watched side-by-side for a few moments longer. Nadia considered that there may be a glitch. She saw something that made her believe so. "Are you sure this is the right mission?"

"What do you mean?"

"I just thought . . ."

The monster that Zack had been fighting fell to the ground.

"Maybe not."

Angeal turned away and peered into the training chamber. He found Zack in an odd position. Arms raised in the universal sign for "I surrender." Angeal turned back around when Nadia cried out to him.

"Angeal! Something's wrong!"

He flipped his phone open. "Impossible! What the hell is Sephiroth doing there!?"

"Angeal! Get in there!"

He jogged to the chamber and entered the code. When he entered he swiped up Zack's shattered sword and deflected the faux-Sephiroth's sword.

Zack sat up. "Thanks, Angeal."

"Oh my god," Nadia sighed, clenching her eyes shut. That had been close. He could have actually been killed by an illusion.

Angeal aborted the mission. "Training is over."

"Why!?"

Nadia raced into the chamber just as Angeal pointed the remnant of Zack's sword at the latter.

"You serious? I was just getting started!" He threw the goggles to the ground.

Nadia had never seen him angry before.

Angeal handed Zack his sword, who in turn, gave a discontented sigh.

"Zack." Angeal had turned to take his leave, but paused within the doorframe.

Zack looked up.

"Hold onto your dreams."

"Huh?"

"If you want to be a hero you have to hold onto your dreams and . . . your pride." He than walked away.

"What," Zack began, "the hell?"


	15. Chapter 15 Late December

Flowers spread out all around the front of the old, dilapidated church. Two girls were within the confines of the building. One was tending to the flowers, the other, sitting on the first pew.

"They're doing well!" the girl on the pew assured.

Aeris looked up. "You really think so, Nadia?"

"They have grown, have they not?" Nadia stood up into a stretch than knelt down beside Aeris. "Being an Ancient," she pursued, "would you say you have . . . a direct line of communication with the earth?"

Aeris smiled in her charming, gentle way and glanced up at her companion. "I suppose you could say that. Why?"

"I have been talking to the earth for weeks, and I have gotten no response."

"Have you been asking for something?"

Nadia felt a twinge of inexplicable guilt when she replied, "Yes. I want nothing more than for my friends to be who they were."

"I can't help you with that, and the planet can't either."

"Excuse my sniveling, but I have lost many friends as of late and I have gained few. There are two whom I can depend on, you included. I am unsure of how dependable Kunsel is."

"And," Aeris paused; the name that she was searching for was just out of her grasp, "the young one, you know that he's dependable?"

"Zack? Yes. You can tell that he is simply by looking into his eyes. I have the benefit of knowing more about him than how trustworthy his eyes are. His actions have depicted loyalty as well."

"If he's so great, why haven't you brought him down here to meet me yet?"

"I would, but I am slightly ashamed of my quarters. They are not all together awful, but their location is not so desirable." Nadia gazed fondly upon Aeris. She had been Nadia's first friend in Midgar who had no association with Shinra. Tseng, who stood right outside the door to the church, caught her attention. "How can you bear being constantly watched?"

"I barely notice anymore."

Nadia unbent her knees, standing up straight. "The time for my departure has arrived."

Aeris turned to look at her friend. "When do you get off?"

"Tomorrow morning. It is a twelve-hour shift."

"Than I guess I'll see you in two days."

Beaming, Nadia left the church, pausing only to have words with Tseng. "Hello, darling."

He squirmed beneath her sarcastic endearment. "Must you be so sardonically polite?"

She smiled angelically. "Do you not tire of the tedious and fruitless tasks Shinra assigns you?"

"It puts bread on the table"

"Walk with me?"

"You know that I can't."

"Very well. How is Elaina?"

"Shouldn't you be getting to work?"

"I should."

"And yet, you're still here."

"You are turning rather red. Did I perhaps strike a nerve?"

"No."

"Why so stiff?"

"Why so annoying?"

"Now, I know that there is something bothering you. You can tell me."

Tseng groaned. Nadia had managed to make friends with every Turk and he was no exception. He wished that he could bring himself to dislike her, but it was much easier said than done. "Why?"

"You must be more distinct."

"I can't believe that you . . . for lack of a better word dumped Reno."

"Oh," she stated simply. "I did not want to. He left me no choice. You have only heard his side of the story. Have you not?"

Tseng nodded his head once.

"If that is the case, than you have no right to judge me."

"I guess that's true."

"More than enough time has been wasted here. I will be going now."

He waved farewell and she went on her way. She had more than enough patients to take up all twelve hours of her twelve-hour shift. By the end, she was exhausted and crashed in the on-call room. It was a rarity, but that night it was devoid of any form aside from her own. She rested for a few hours or so before awaking to the sound of the door opening. A broad shouldered frame sat on the bed adjacent to the one that she was lying on.

"Who is there?" she questioned, sitting up.

"I had a break between missions," Angeal's firm voice replied. "I'll be going on another soon enough."

"Will Zack be going with you?"

"He doesn't know it yet, but yes."

"Good. He has been getting restless as of late. There have been no missions available to him since the botched training earlier this month. He fears that that may have ruined his standing in SOLDIER."

"No such thing. With the desertion, Shinra is a bit of a wreck. All trainings have been cut back as well."

"How long will this outing last?"

"No more than a night."

"And when do you leave?"

"Today. In a few hours."

"Be on your guard and," she hesitated before continuing, "I feel ridiculous for issuing this request, but . . . don't let anything undesirable happen to Zack."

"You have my word. I've suggested him for promotion, and Lazard will be in attendance on the mission. We're working for peace in Wutai."

"How noble. Have you made a decision regarding Genesis's offer?"

"N-yes."

"Nyes? That is a rather intriguing if not confusing answer."

"No. The answer that you sought was 'no.'"

"I assumed this much."

"How can I be expected to choose?"

"He is persuasive."

"But I know what is right and what is wrong. Siding with him would put me in the wrong. Yet, it is so difficult for me to say no."

"I cannot say that I blame you. I wouldn't be able to turn him down."

"The time?"

"For you to leave me?"

Angeal glanced up at the clock on the wall. Its luminescent glow filled the room. It read twelve noon. "Not yet."

"When must you?"

"Five."

"I don't have to work," she said with an implicational air, "and who knows when you'll have time off again."

He held out his hand which she took eagerly.

--

Angeal looked down at his watch and sighed. Zack wasn't late, but he wasn't early either. If he entered the room within the next thirty seconds, than he would be right on time, but it wasn't looking likely. If he showed up too late, Angeal would appear a fool for even thinking that there was a possibility for Zack's promotion. Lazard wasn't a patient man. Zack eventually did enter, forty-five seconds late.

"So, you're finally here."

He didn't have a watch on and there was no clock in this room besides the ones on Lazard's and Angeal's wrists, so Zack couldn't very well defend himself. "Er . . . sorry. Am I _that_ late? I thought that this was supposed to be a mission briefing . . . is that code for 'lecture'? Am I in trouble?"

"No," Angeal was the one who replied, "Be quiet Zack and just listen."

"It seems that this would be the first time that we've met," Lazard spoke next; "I am the executive manager of the SOLDIER department."

"Pleasure to meet you!" Zack said perhaps too jovially. He was just happy that he hadn't been called to this meeting due to some faux pas of his own.

"You are friends with one Nadia Towers, are you not?

"Yeah."

"A while ago during a mission in Wutai we lost the location of a first class SOLDIER, Genesis. Do you happen to know anything about this?"

Zack shrugged. "Nadia mentioned it, but it was only in passing."

"Hm . . . the organization is very busy as of late. I'd like you to go and investigate."

"Go where? Wutai?"

"Correct. This war has gone on long enough."

Angeal cleared his throat. "I've nominated you for first class."

Zack smiled at his friend. "Huh!? Angeal!! I love you, Angeal!" he half laughed and pounced at his friend attempting to embrace him, but Angeal wasn't so thrilled.

"Stop embarrassing me! . . . Don't make me regret this."

"Yessir!"

"Make your preparations. Then we will leave."

"Mmkay. I'll be right back." Zack ran from the room, seeking Nadia. He located her within the premises of the Shinra building. She was on the entry level, holding a conversation with the woman who worked the front desk. Nadia didn't even notice him until he spoke her name. She smiled upon seeing him.

"Hello, Zack. Have you met Crissy?"

"Not officially."

"Crissy, this is Zack. He's with SOLDIER."

Crissy gave a flirtatious batting of her eyelashes. "It's _very_ nice to meet you, Zack."

He hastily replied, "Yeah, ditto," before returning the short conversation to Nadia. "So, Harley. I'm goin' on a mission! Will ya miss me?" He raised an eyebrow.

She mirrored his action. "Oh, sweetie, it's only going to cost you a few hours. You'll be back before you know it."

He sighed. "_Still_, will ya miss me?"

"Of course," she said, allowing it to sound as an admission of appeasement despite the fact that it held some truth.

"I should be going now. . . ." he muttered, leering sidelong at Nadia. "Here I go," he began melodramatically, "into battle . . . All by my lonesome . . . Without the comfort of a close friend to accompany me."

"Angeal will be with you."

"Hmph."

"Fine, but I insist that you stop being so childish." She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a gentle, reassuring hug. She wasn't short, nor was she tall. She stood at 5'7 and was, at the time, wearing three-inch heels, but even so, Zack was still five inches taller than her. "Good luck, sweetie," she whispered into his ear and rolled back off of her tip toes, onto her heals.

He was hesitant to release her waist, where he had placed his arms when she had hugged him, but did so nevertheless and she pulled away. "Not that you need it. . . ."

"Oh, I do! I do need it!"

"If you really feel you need it that much . . ." She held up her arm to show him a charm bracelet. "Take a charm, but they're all very special to me. So, be sure to bring it back when you're done."

"I promise. I will," he said, inspecting each individual charm carefully.

"Normally, I would say that promises are pointless, but you keep yours, don't you? Just like Angeal."

"I don't think I've ever broken a promise. Which one do you think is luckiest?"

She focused on the bracelet. "I can't say, but my favorite is . . ." She withdrew her arm and unclasped a single charm from the chain. ". . . this one." She dangled it before his face. "Take it."

"If it is your favorite, than I can't." He studied the charm. It was crafted in the likeness of a purple apple with a ribbon wrapped about it.

"What's wrong with it?"

"I'm afraid I might lose it."

"You won't." She popped back onto her tiptoes and gave him a swift peck on the cheek which quickly turned to a bright shade of pink, forcing him to turn away out of embarrassment. When the color of his face returned to its natural hue, he turned about again. "Uh, thanks," he chuckled awkwardly. She placed the charm in the palm of his outstretched hand. "Take care." "Will do." And he was off again, to the conference room.

Angeal had been filling out paper work and upon Zack's entrance he stood.

"Ready to go!" barked Zack.

"In a moment."

He released a low sigh and took a seat in the chair that had been previously occupied by Lazard. Zack moved his legs to and fro in a swinging motion, swiveling back and forth in the chair for fifteen minutes until the door opened and Angeal stood.

"We were waiting for Lazard?"

"Yes, I will be in attendance on your mission. I'm expecting great things out of you, Zack."

He beamed. "I won't let you down, sir."

Lazard began walking away, but stopped. "By the way, what is your dream?"

"Huh?" Zack was taken aback by this question. A better question would have been why Lazard wanted to know.

"To become a first class, I assume."

Zack leaned his head to side. "Not really. More than that, I want to be a hero."

"Is that so? Well, unattainable dreams are usually the best, I suppose."

"Come again?"

Lazard didn't respond. He just continued walking.

--

Angeal paused in the middle of the path that led to the Tamblin Fortress, one of the centers of Wutai activity. He had noticed something shimmering on a small loop on Zack's glove. Angeal hadn't recognized it until now. Zack had just taken down a group of Wutai troops.

"Next!"

"Cool off, Zack."

"No can do. Lazard's watching, right? I guess he won't be participating in the fight, but I hope he's impressed!"

"Zack."

His visual search for Lazard came to a stop, and his eyes landed on his elder.

"Do you know of the dumb apple?"

"What is it?"

"You don't know what a dumb apple is? And you hope to obtain first class status. Impossible." Angeal continued walking toward Fort Tamblin.

"Huh!? What is it!? Wait!" Zack followed Angeal for a few steps, but stopped again. "What the heck is a dumb apple!?"

"Its proper name is Banora White. It's native to my hometown. They bloom at random and so the villagers affectionately gave them the name 'dumb apples.' I used to steal a few off of my neighbor's trees."

"Saying something like that, you're quite the thief."

"My family was poor."

"Say what you like, but it's still stealing," Zack said aloud. 'But like I'm really the one to preach.'

"Still, I had honor. The largest tree was on the mayor's property, and one could assume that it possessed the best tasting apples, but I would never steal from that tree, because the mayor's son was my best friend."

"Couldn't you have just _asked_ him for an apple from his big fancy tree?" Zack asked skeptically.

"Honor and pride are troublesome things."

He narrowed his eyes. "What does this have to do with my promotion?"

"It couldn't hurt." Angeal chuckled and walked away.

Zack growled. "There is no connection, is there?"


	16. Chapter 16 Still Late December

"Where are you, Angeal?" Zack was seated on the couch in his dorm. He didn't want to move. He didn't want to think. He just wanted answers that would probably never come. "So, supposedly Angeal is in cahoots with Genesis. . . . I don't buy it." He scowled at the ground. There was a soft knock on the door. At first he ignored it, willing the person to leave, but they were more persistent than he gave them credit for. So, he had no choice but to open the door to his guest. Upon opening the door, a smile spread across his previously sullen face. No one could do this tom him like Nadia.

"Hello, darling?"

"Darling?"

"My apologies. You are more accustomed to 'sweetie.' Am I correct?"

He nodded once.

"I came to congratulate you on your successful mission. People have spoken not of Angeal, although I have my assumptions as to why. So we shall follow suit. May I enter?"

He stood to the side, allowing her to pass.

She placed a hand on his shoulder. "I know what thoughts occupy your mind. Don't lose sleep over these ideas. Angeal has not betrayed you or me. He would rather die. You trust Sephiroth, a man whom you have only just met, more than you do me? I warn you; that man is not to be trusted." She released him and further perused the room.

"Why don't you like him?" Zack asked and closed the door.

"I know everything about everyone in SOLDIER. I know things about Sephiroth that he does not. I know what he is and I know what he will become."

"What?" Zack questioned eagerly.

"Calm yourself. That information is classified."

"You're right . . . about Angeal, I mean. Oh. Your charm, by the way, it's in my room."

A few more words were conveyed before they traversed into the next room. The door swung open and Zack proceeded into the room, but Nadia didn't cross the threshold; she glanced at the surrounding room, and let loose a small guffaw of dislike.

"What?"

"Do you not want a girlfriend?"

"Hn? What's that s'posed to mean?"

"Peach," was her simple reply as she pointed at the nearby wall.

"Oh, well, I didn't choose the paint color. It was like this when I moved in."

"Whatever the case, you should change it."


	17. Chapter 17 Early January

"A month."

"Has it really been that long?" Aeris asked.

Nadia nodded.

"Don't be worried!" she consoled, and placed a hand on Nadia's shoulder. "You have always believed in him before. Why should that change now?"

"It's been a month! How could he make me wait so long for any news? I am not saying that he is in the wrong with what he's doing, but it will get him killed." Normally, she would have never said such a thing in Aeris's company, but Tseng was no where to be seen, so there was no one to report on her possibly traitorous words. Her thoughts landed on this subject and she scanned the church once more. "Where is Tseng?"

Aeris shrugged. "I haven't seen him today."

Nadia had grown increasingly accustomed to Tseng's presence. Instead of letting it go, she decided to give him a call. The phone rang three times before it was answered. "Tseng? Where are you?"

"I'm preparing to head on a mission."

"Where to? Who with?" This was her attempt at being annoying. She hadn't actually expected an honest response.

"This mission is relatively close to you, I suppose. I'm going to your hometown with your boyfriend."

"Who are you referring to as my boyfriend?"

"The second class SOLDIER, Zack Fair."

In the background, Nadia could hear Zack's voice. "Did you say something about me? Who is that? Who're you talking to? Is that Nadia? How do you know Nadia? Let me talk to her!"

"Did you hear that?" Tseng questioned.

"Vaguely," Nadia replied. "Let me speak with him. You know, we are not dating. So, I scold you for saying that we are, but I do have a certain fondness for him." She waited to hear Zack's voice, but it did not come.

"No. This is my phone!"

"Why should I care about that? Let me speak with him!" she ordered.

"Fine!" Tseng passed the phone to Zack.

"Harley!"

"I take it you are feeling better."

"Now, I am. I haven't spoken to you in . . ."

"Hours, yes."

"Three hours . . . give or take a few minutes."

Tseng rolled his eyes.

"You're heading to Banora? What are you to be doing there?" Nadia asked.

Zack didn't say anything for a few seconds. "I'm . . ." He frowned. "Well, I'm . . . Me and Tseng."

"Tseng and I."

"Huh?"

"Use proper grammar, Sweetie. Tseng and I."

"Okay. Tseng and I . . . we're looking for Genesis." The long silence that ensued following this statement, somehow managed to be deafening to Zack's ears. "Harley? . . . Are you okay?"

It was eventually broken by Nadia. "I picked up some paint chips." She couldn't bear to speak of what may happen to her childhood friends. Not yet. "I don't mean to be overbearing, but we must do something about those walls of yours."

"What colors did you pick out?"

Tseng glared. How could they possibly think that it was okay for them to discuss such menial matters, especially on his phone?

"Mostly beiges and blues and whites."

"There are different shades of white?"

"Yes, off-white, antique white, cream white, sandy white. There's also a pale green that's rather nice. Of course, I had to stick to more basic colors because of Shinra's housing codes, but as soon as we change your wall color -"

"This phone is not for leisurely conversations!" Tseng growled, having elected to recapture his phone.

"Tseng! Give the phone back to Zack!"

"No."

"This is important . . . and business related. It will take but a moment."

He sighed. "Fine, but make it quick."

The phone was given back to Zack. "He said you sounded serious this time. Is everything okay, Harley?"

"You said that you were going to search for Genesis. . . . Find him before Tseng does. . . . Save him, Zack. I know you can. . . . Bring him back alive and well."

Zack gulped. "I'll do my best."

"I apologize for being so grave. And, if you see Angeal's and Genesis's parents, tell them that Nadia said, 'hello.'" She hung up the phone before Zack could reply.

He glanced over at Tseng. "If we find Genesis . . . what are we supposed to do with him?"

"We aren't looking just for Genesis."

"That wasn't the answer that I was expecting. . . . I was actually expecting an answer to the question that I asked."

"We are to eliminate him."

"Oh." Zack had thought that maybe Nadia had been exaggerating. That they hadn't been planning on causing Genesis any harm. Clearly that was not the case.

--

Kunsel tried his best to hide his blush from Misaki. She was so pretty, and completely his type. Big chest, long black hair, beautiful brown eyes, and a cute little button nose to top it all off. He had always kept his crush on her under his hood, but only because he was too shy and he told himself that he didn't know her well enough to make any kind of move. However, now he had an excuse to spend time in the hospital, thanks to Nadia. And when Nadia was busy, more often than not, he could tell everyone that he was waiting to do something with her, and in the meantime, hold a discussion with the nurse at the front desk in sector five who just happened to be the object of his desires. He leaned on the desk casually. "Is Dr. Towers currently with a patient?"

She shook her head. "She isn't in today. You're awfully fond of her."

"No," he yelped hastily. "It's just that . . . as a SOLDIER . . . I don't have much time for making new friends. So, I have to keep close to the friends that I do have . . . friends like you."

She smiled.

"Am I right? We are friends, right?"

She nodded.

He gulped, bracing himself for the question that he told himself he'd ask today. "But you know," he said in a shaky voice, "we're in that place where we're good enough friends that we know each other's likes and dislikes, but not so great that we think of each other as family yet. This would usually be the time when . . . if something aside from friendship were to form, it would be proposed by either you or me, traditionally me."

That statement caught her attention. She looked up from the paper work that she had been initialing. "I guess," she said hesitantly, "Why?"

"No reason!" he assured her. He continued after a few seconds in silence. "It's just that. What do you think of me?"

"Uhm . . . you're nice . . . and you're cute in a boy-next-door kinda way. Why?" Kunsel had given her too much credit. She didn't suspect that he was about to ask what he was.

"That's good! So, if that's the case . . ." He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. ". . . will you go out with me? . . ."

She placed the files on top of the computer's hard drive and arched a brow.

" . . . On a date?"

She drummed her fingers on the desk.

"Please. Just one date. Than you can dump me. Just one."

With a shrug and a sip of coffee that seemed, to Kunsel at least, to last for hours, she said quietly, "Why not?"

After releasing a breath that he had been holding since he gave his offer, he gave a large grin and said, "Really!? Oh, 'kay. Um . . . so, I'll see you tonight at six?"

"Mmkay. In the lobby?"

"Yeah! Yeah! Um, okay, uh, bye." He couldn't stop smiling as he walked away. After a few minutes of mindless wandering, he realized that he wanted no, needed to tell someone. The question was 'who'? Who could he tell? Who should he tell? He threw a careless glance at his surroundings. While his thoughts and feet had been wandering separately he had somehow made his way outside, to sector seven. Nadia. She had known about his crush on Misaki. She had known that he wanted to ask her out. She was the first person that he had told. He unconsciously reached for his phone and punched in her number.

--

She couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't handle the stress of waiting for news on Angeal. That was why Nadia had retreated to a location, a few miles outside of Midgar. It was, in essence, a lake gathered at the base of a steady waterfall in the midst of a large forest. There she sat, dipping her feet into the cool water. She dropped onto her back and stared up into the thick leafy canopy of foliage above her. "Angeal," she groaned quietly than placed both hands over her eyes. "Why? Why would you do this?"

"Are you okay?" The voice startled her, though it was calm and quiet.

She removed her hands and stared into two pools of blue, unable to decipher the rest of the face above her. "What are you doing out here?" she asked. It was rare for anyone to stray this far from the road. She now absorbed the rest of the countenance. She had often compared Angeal to an angel, and not just because his name alluded to such a connection, but now, seeing these pure, sweet, honest eyes staring at her from beneath the some of the blondest hair that she had ever encountered, during her time of need, it was shocking that she had ever believed Angeal to be the holiest of creatures, when something or someone such as this walked the earth.

The heavenly being blushed which, if anything made him appear more angelic - at that point, she could definitely tell that what she was seeing was of the male persuasion. He smiled slightly, in a shamed way. "I got kind of lost."

She reached up and ran a finger down his jaw bone, from his ear to his chin, to be sure that he was real. He looked too perfect. "Darling, where were you going?"

His smile grew more sheepish. "Midgar. I was on a mission."

"I have never seen you before. You are not with SOLDIER. Your eyes are far too green." She paused for a moment. "You're very young too. Oh, I see. You're an infantry man."

He nodded.

"Well, you aren't far off course. It's a few miles south of here. How could someone like you possibly get left behind?"

Although he didn't completely understand the 'someone like you' comment, he was able to ignore it and go into an explanation with the hopes that Nadia would return the favor. "I was left behind to do some clean up work along with a few of my comrades, and I just . . . fell back in pace. They're all older than me . . . and taller . . . and move faster."

"How old are you?"

"Fifteen. I originally came to Midgar to sign up with SOLDIER, but . . ."

"You have to be sixteen to apply."

"Yeah. I didn't know that beforehand. So, I decided to be an 'infantry man' for a while. I figured it'd be good practice, and maybe I'd get a few references."

"You haven't been with Shinra long than." She sat up and in turn, he leaned back. "It can't be any more than eleven months and thirty days."

"It's only been four months, actually." His perfectly clear skin gleamed in the sunlight that managed to seep through the treetops. "But . . . you never answered the question that I asked you."

"Ah. You wanted to know if I was okay. See, I set out with the intent of this oasis of sorts being my destination. I enjoy . . . everything about this place. I come here to relax. Fortunately, I don't hold grudges against those who disturb my relaxation."

He hesitated, unsure as to whether or not he should apologize.

Nadia smiled. It was hard for her not to. The boy was far too attractive for this world. "Now, the question is: are you all right? If not, I could assure you medical assistance."

"I'm okay. I have a few scrapes and bruises, but it's nothing serious. I'd appreciate if you could help me get back to Midgar from here, though."

"Sure." Nadia held out her hand. "I was about to head back, anyway."

He hesitantly reached forward.

"Your name?"

"Hm? Oh, Cloud."

She looked him up and down before turning, still holding his hand in hers and saying. "It fits."

"Huh? Uh, thanks. I guess."

They began walking, Nadia in the lead. "You're shy."

"You could say that."

"That's your problem. You're afraid to offend someone. You've got to learn to be polite, but not weak. You can't let people walk on you. You have to set up your beliefs that you refuse to change or back down on. Not all beliefs should be kept solid, because sometimes they do change, but you cannot let them be altered by ignoramuses. When someone tries to change you or those borders that you have set up, than you must fight for yourself. In that case, you can't be afraid to hurt feelings, but never step out of your bounds. That's what I do, and I've come far. It's what you need to do or you'll never be noticed. But a word of caution: You don't want to be in SOLDIER. Than again, that's your choice to make."

"Well, it isn't exactly a 'choice' per say."

"Yes it is. You always have a choice." She brushed a strand of hair out of her face. "Now, why would you want to be in SOLDIER is beyond me."

"I want to protect someone."

"If you want to 'protect someone' than be with them and protect them."

"It's more than that!" he yelped defensively. "I want to do something. I want to be something!"

Cloud stared at the hand that was wrapped around his own. Nadia's hands were small, beautiful and in no way scarred or tainted - which resembled the remainder of her appearance. They were smooth and gentle and looked as though they should be delicate, but instead, he felt great strength from her grasp. He doubted he could have broken free if he had wanted to. These hands should not contain this magnitude of strength. He tightened his grip and continued to match the pace set by Nadia, doing his best not to trip or bash his head against low-hanging branches. He marveled at the size of his hand in comparison to Nadia's. He suddenly looked up.

"Who are you?" It had never occurred to him before now to question the girl who was leading him - hopefully - to Midgar. "What's your name?"

She pushed aside a shrub and dragged him from the dense forest into an area that had immediately noticeably sparser planted oak trees.

"Which is it?" she asked, coming to a stop and releasing him.

"What . . . do you mean?"

"Do you want to know my name or who I am? They are two different questions with very different answers."

He stepped closer to her. "Both."

"My name is Nadia Towers. I fear that the answer to the second is not so easy for me to give. Not because I don't want you to know, but because I am not sure myself. You can learn though, if you want."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that if you want to know who someone is you need to know them. Does that make sense?"

"A little."

Nadia pointed northeast. "There's the road. And . . ." she trailed off, reaching around to her pocket in time for Cloud to hear the sound of a guitar being strummed and a drum holding a steady beat.

"Whistle for the boys. Now, don't be shy. Give us all a song and a reason why. Baby's got the bones and a hand-me-down. Says her heart is black, but her eyes are brown. Give the boys a fl-"

"Hello," Nadia sang into the mouth piece of a phone that she had retrieved from her pocket. "Yes. . . . You did? I guess I didn't give you enough credit. . . . No. I just thought you'd chicken out. . . ." Her eyes turned sad. "I wish I could, but I have to help someone get to Midgar and then I'm volunteering at the park until ten. . . . I know that's late, but that's how long I'm needed there. . . . because I'm bored and I needed something to do during my day off."

Cloud sighed, and began walking away until Nadia latched onto his arm.

She held the phone away from her mouth a little. "Don't wander too far. I'm not sure if I trust your sense of direction," she muttered before returning the phone to her mouth. "I'll see you tomorrow." She hung up. "Do you really want to walk all the way back to Midgar?"

"I didn't think I had another choice."

She shook her head. "Did you think that I walked out here?" she laughed. "The roads immediately outside of Midgar are far too dangerous for someone as petite as I to walk alone." As far as girls went, she was actually relatively tall, but she somehow appeared smaller than she was. She replaced her phone in her pocket and retrieved a key which she jingled before Cloud's nose.

"What's it go to?" He stretched the first word into two syllables.

"Shinra issued motorcycle. It's parked in the west. So, you stay right here, and I'll go fetch it."

Cloud obeyed her orders and watched her disappear behind a nearby hill (only after repeating that he was not to move). He glanced over at the road which was visible through the trees, wondering if it was worth waiting for Nadia to return. She was domineering, but for some inexplicable reason, he had enjoyed the company that she provided him with. It was than that he decided that he would befriend her if he had to.


	18. Chapter 18 Early Mid January

There was going to be trouble that much Zack could sense. Nadia would be mad, but Zack had to be the one to tell her. He had kept a secret from her before and the results had been worse than if he had been the one to inform her. He dragged a hand down his face. The break room now surrounded him. In an effort to locate anyone who could point him in Nadia's direction, Zack glanced around, and quickly found Kunsel who was already on his way to approach Zack.

"Hey, you're back already?"

He nodded.

"How was the mission?"

"Not so great. Have you seen Nadia?"

A smirk contorted Kunsel's face. "Oh. Riiiight."

"'Right' what? Have you seen her or not?"

"Nope."

Zack groaned.

"But I know where she is."

"You couldn't have said that in the first place?"

Kunsel heaved a shoulder up and down. "What fun would that have been?" A few moments were taken to study Zack's countenance. "Clearly, you aren't in a _fun_ mood. What's up?"

"Nothing . . . Well, nothing that concerns you, I mean. I need to talk to Harley. Now could you _please_ help me?" It was less of a question and more of an order.

"In the park," Kunsel replied passively.

"Thank you."

-_-_-*_-_-_*-_-_-*_-_-_*-_-_-*_-_-_*-_-_-*_-_-_*-_-_-*_-_-_*-_-_-*_-_-_*-_-_-*_-_-

Zack found her in the park, as he had been told he would. She was shoveling bark chips all around. She stood upon the pile of chips, spade in hand. When she saw him, she waved him over.

"Harley?"

"Yes, sweetie?"

"What are you doing?"

"Improving the park."

"Do you want help?"

"Oh no! I can do it on my own. The city workers are my assistants today."

"Kay." He sat down on top of the pile.

"How was Banora?"

Why did she have to ask? No matter. Now was as good of time as any. He would have to tell her some time. "It was desolate."

She frowned. "Desolate?"

He nodded. "Angeal's mother was nice. It seemed that she had liked you a lot."

"_Had_ liked?"

"Angeal was there. So was Genesis."

Nadia dropped down to her knees. "And?"

"I didn't get a chance to really talk to either of them. Tseng was in a hurry, and I don't think that anything I would have said to Genesis would have made a difference."

"He's not a monster, Zack. Neither of them are."

"I used to believe the same thing, but now . . . I'm not so sure."

She threw down the shovel. "What do you mean!?"

"Genesis killed his parents. I think that Angeal may have -"

"No! You're lying! He's not capable of that! Neither is Genesis!" She turned away.

"Why would I lie?" Zack got to his feet. "Especially about something like this?"

"I don't know! I will go see for myself."

"There won't be anything for you to see. They bombed the entire town."

She stopped. "You are telling the truth."

"I am."

When she turned back around to look at Zack, her eyes were clear. There were no tears. No tears even threatening to come loose. "We can save them," she declared. "I know that we can."

"Maybe we can save Angeal," Zack agreed, "but I'm not so sure about Genesis. Don't glare at me like that. He believes he's a monster."

Nadia's anger had been quelled, so she changed the subject. "I'll be done here at ten." Her voice was notably warmer. "You should rest. You're looking very pale."

"I feel fine," he assured.

"In that case, I'll commission the truth." Her eyes directed themselves at the ground. "I love you. . . ."

His heart skipped a beat.

". . . But I cannot bear to look at you right now."

He winced, and she took notice.

"Are you in pain?" Her voice was concerned.

He gave a nod. "I'll be okay, though. You're right. All I need is rest. Don't worry. I'll see you later, I guess."

-_-_-*_-_-_*-_-_-*_-_-_*-_-_-*_-_-_*-_-_-*_-_-_*-_-_-*_-_-_*-_-_-*_-_-_*-_-_-*_-_-

There was only one message that Nadia wanted to receive, and it was the one message that she was beginning to think she would never be given. Her reflection frowned back at her from the glistening case that covered her phone. The face that peered back was miserable and tear streaked. She would have to fix that later. It was an odd expression for her to sport. It had been years since her last cry, and suddenly she was so immeasurably fragile. Another face, a face that was just as immeasurably beautiful as hers was frail.

"Have you been . . . Crying?" Cloud asked incredulously. He had known her all of approximately two weeks, but even he knew that this was an abnormality where she was concerned. "Whose ass do I have to kick?"

She sniffled. "You couldn't take him."

"Hey!"

"And even if you could, that would not make anything better. It may make my condition worse."

"Gimme a name! You're underestimating me."

"He's a SOLDIER."

"So?"

"First class."

"Oh."

She forced a smile onto her face. "Looks like rain. I suggest that you take shelter."

"Where're you going?"

"I have a meeting with Sephiroth to supervise."

"You know Sephiroth!?"

"Unfortunately. Please, do not tell me that you too are hypnotized by his prose."

"Not as hypnotized as I am with yours. . . . And I'm more impressed than hypnotized. He's a _first class_. He's a hero! How can you not be rapt with that?"

"It's easy, but I am not at liberty to explain. He has been trying to gain my approval since the day that we first met. He hasn't been himself. He has acted a saint whenever I am present and no one is that nice, that much I can say."

"One of the reasons why you don't like him is because he's nice?"

"No, because he is so clearly putting up a façade. Take yourself, for example. You are polite, but not in a fictitious way."

"How can you tell that he's pretending to be nice? How do you know that he's not really as friendly as he acts? I mean, do you really always assume the worst in people?"

She shook her head. "Quite the contrary, actually. I always believe the best in people, and thus I'm usually let down. That's not to say that it isn't worth it. I believed the best in you, and I'm happy that I chose to do so. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have grown tired of rationalizing my thoughts for your sake."

Cloud didn't saying anything, but simply watched Nadia walk away.

-_-_-*_-_-_*-_-_-*_-_-_*-_-_-*_-_-_*-_-_-*_-_-_*-_-_-*_-_-_*-_-_-*_-_-_*-_-_-*_-_-

Zack hesitated outside the door to Lazard's office. As always, he believed that he was in trouble for one thing or another and the fact that he heard people yelling at each other from inside the office didn't do anything to improve his anxiety. He was caught between leaving and enduring a greater punishment later or going in and being punished immediately. Before he decided, the door slid open and a fellow SOLDIER gestured for Zack to enter which he did after a few seconds of hesitation. The shouting immediately stopped.

"Congratulations," Lazard called upon Zack's entrance.

Zack glanced between Lazard, Nadia and Sephiroth than back again. The second time through his eyes lingered on Nadia inquisitorially.

"Don't look at me, sweetie. It's Lazard whom you should be addressing."

One of Zack's eyebrows arched. Was this an intervention? What had he been doing that called for an intervention? He opened his mouth just in time for Lazard to begin speaking again.

"As of today, you are a SOLDIER first class."

"Oh," Zack muttered quietly. His eyes slid across the room and once again landed on Nadia.

"Something wrong?" she asked, but didn't come any closer, remaining against the wall while he stood in the center of the room.

"I just thought I'd be happier, but I'm not."

Lazard and Sephorith made temporary eye contact. It was as though there was no one else in the room but Nadia and Zack. When they spoke, no one else seemed to matter to them.

It was at this moment that Nadia abandoned her spot by the wall to comfort Zack. "Well, it is most definitely understandable. A promotion is not the solution to your dilemma."

"In any case," Lazard said with a clearing of his throat, "This may be sudden, but I have a favor to ask of you."

"A favor or a mission?"

"A mission," Sephiroth replied in Lazard's stead.

Shortly thereafter, Zack was dismissed from the room while the three who remained argued over a piece of information that Lazard had neglected to share with Zack for the thirty minutes in which Zack was gone. When he returned, Nadia was still complaining, but as soon as she was aware of his presence, she stopped.

He stared at her curiously and mouthed, "What's wrong?"

To which she replied by shaking her head and saying, "Lazard has decided that it would be in everyone's best interest if he gave the order to assassinate Angeal and Genesis."

A crease appeared in Zack's brow. "And you're asking me to do that?"

Lazard shook his head. "First of all, it wasn't my decision, but to answer your question, no. The Shinra army will. We can't exactly trust you to carry out the act."

Zack shrugged. That much made sense. He couldn't bring himself to harm Angeal, let alone kill him, and as for Genesis: Nadia adored the man, and taking him from her just wouldn't be fair.

"I will also be going," Sephiroth said, making Nadia jump. He had spoken only once since she had arrived.

"Going where?" Nadia and Zack questioned in unison.

Lazard scowled and opened his mouth to reply, but a siren interrupted his attempt. The normal lights grew dim and red ones began flashing.

"Intruders?" Nadia murmured then ran to a locker stationed in the corner and retrieved a gun.

"What are you doing?" Zack demanded.

"I'm going to fight."

"No, you ca-"

"Enough," Lazard barked. "Sephiroth, go to the president's office. Zack, you secure the entrance."

Sephiroth was already headed to the door by the time Zack had turned back to look at Nadia. "Follow me," he ordered.

"I don't need your protection," she replied, prideful, almost insulted by his insinuation.

"Maybe you don't, but it'd make me feel better if I could know that you were okay."

She hesitated for a millisecond before conceding. "Okay."

He took her hand and sprinted for the door, surprised at how well she kept up. When they reached the elevator, he took a moment to explain what he wanted from her. "We're going to the entrance hall. From there, I want you to head straight to the slums. You should be safe there."

"Zack, sweetie, I can fend for myself. Trust me."

"I can't do that," he stated. Then before Nadia could say anything in response, he amended his comment. "I mean, I can trust you, but why take a chance? I don't want to lose you."

She couldn't think of what to say to that. He had a valid point. "Okay, Zack." Her voice was quiet.

So quiet that Zack had to steal a glance at her. And in that single moment, she popped up onto her toes and pecked him on the lips just seconds before the elevator door slid open. Zack blushed and stood perfectly still until Nadia pointed out the violence that was occurring in the lobby. The pair rushed from the elevator onto the landing.

"What is this?" Nadia questioned.

"Genesis clones."

"Clones?"

He nodded just in time for one of the clones to come flying at him. He jumped in front of Nadia, which he didn't need to do because the clone had no intent of hurting her, just Zack. The clone took a swing at Zack, and managed to cut him. The wound was shallow but still drew blood. It was then that Nadia threw herself before the clone. It drew back its weapon as though to strike but stopped when it noticed that she had no intention of being moved.

"Nadia!" Zack yelped. "What are you doing?"

"He does not wish to cause me harm," she assured, and retrieved her gun. She turned off the safety, cocked it and fired a single round straight into the clone's chest. The wound that she inflicted was lethal.

Zack didn't waste anymore time. He took Nadia by the wrist and dragged her into the action, slashing his sword all the way, while she fired off pot shots at any clone or robot that even came close. It didn't take long before the hall had been cleared. Zack still hadn't released Nadia. She rested her head against him.

"So, you kissed me." His playfulness was very out of place in this particular situation, but brought a certain light to the sad scene.

The elevator door opened and both Nadia and Zack took up a defensive position, but the only thing to emerge from the elevator was Sephiroth.

"Sephiroth!" Zack smiled out of relief. "The intruders are Genesis clones."

Nadia shook her head. "Do not blame him! This is Hollander's doing."

"Who?" Zack asked.

Sephiroth ignored him. "The technology used to make these clones was stolen from the Shinra Science department."

"What are you saying? That Genesis and this Hollander guy got their hands on it?"

"Most likely. Hollander was recently terminated from his positions in both Shinra's science and medical fields. This is probably his attempt at revenge."

"That's stupid. And Genesis is helping him?"

"I don't want to believe it. . . ."

"Then don't believe it!" Nadia ordered.

Sephiroth gave a sigh of displeasure. "I'll do that. Now, it would seem that there are more clones in sector eight that we should take care of."


	19. Chapter 19 Still Early Mid January

MEMO: Sorry it took so long. (: I had to ride the roller coaster for a while. Haven't really gotten off it yet, but that's no excuse! Besides, this is kind of a getaway for me. Thanks for reading! Anyways, it's written weird. Ha-ha! Good luck getting through it!

"Most likely. Hollander was recently terminated from his positions in both Shinra's science and medical fields. This is probably his attempt at revenge."

"That's stupid. And Genesis is helping him?"

"I don't want to believe it. . . ."

"Then don't believe it!" Nadia ordered.

Sephiroth gave a sigh of displeasure. "I'll do that. Now, it would seem that there are more clones in sector eight that we should take care of."

The anger that typically occupied Nadia's countenance while she was in Sephiroth's presence momentarily subsided as the threesome traversed through the door and into sector eight. In that moment she had found peace with Sephiroth, and vaguely, ever so vaguely, she could imagine herself forming not necessarily a friendship, but a temporary alliance with the man whom she had spent her entire - albeit short - career creating a distance between him and herself. When they emerged into the street, it was to find the city being terrorized and ravaged by the clones.

Zack nervously bit his lip. "This doesn't look good."

In return, Sephiroth gave a single nod and replied, "We'll split up here."

"Roger! . . . Harley, I -" He stopped and glanced over at Nadia. "Harley?"

The barrel of her gun was directed straight at someone. If she fired it now, that someone wouldn't stand a chance. Zack forced her gun toward the ground with a genuine chuckle. "No shooting Reno. He's on our team for now."

Nadia's face was caught somewhere between a grin and a grimace "I know. Relax. The safety is equipped. I would never be capable of causing him any physical detriment."

In an instant, Zack's face had turned serious. "Listen, Harley," he ordered.

She acted accordingly.

"If the Turks are involved this must be serious."

"Evidently."

"Now, I need you to do me a favor," he began and leaned forward until his face was only inches away from Nadia's.

Butterflies arose in her stomach and swirled up into her chest. "Yes? Anything, sweetie. Just name it," she babbled thoughtlessly.

"I need you to go into the slums. It should be safe there."

She pulled away sharply. "What!?"

"You agreed in the elevator."

"Yeah, but," she paused, "I don't want to!"

His face fell and Nadia couldn't help but take notice.

"Fine," she sighed.

This baffled Zack. He hadn't expected her to be so easily swayed. She seemed to habitually put up a fight, but something had changed, something in her that had previously been established or something that Zack had evoked in her. He opened his mouth to question the validity of her agreement, but she had already turned and was sprinting toward the train.

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It was, or so she felt, impossible for her to cease her pacing for even a second. She was too nervous. In addition, her mind wouldn't stop working. It wouldn't allow her to stop thinking, to stop going over the many conceivable outcomes of the situation.

Aeris frowned. "Please, the earth is absorbing your tension. It's not good for the flowers."

For a moment, Nadia stopped. "How can you not understand this, Aeris!?"

"I do. I completely understand, but the flowers . . ."

"Right, the flowers."

As she was in a relatively decent mood where Aeris was concerned, Nadia took a seat on one of the pews in the old church. Moreover, the flowers had done nothing to deserve stress and had managed to cheer up both Aeris and Nadia on several occasions.

Nadia held up her arm to check her watch. "An hour and fifteen minutes," she muttered with a scowl.

"That's not too long." Aeris said in her soft, soothing voice. "I think you should just calm down."

"I'm trying." Nadia stood up. "I'm just so worried. I -"

Her voice stopped abruptly as something crashed from the ceiling right into Aeris's beautiful flowers. She gasped and looked like she was about to cry. Nadia simply flinched away from the impact.

"What was that?" she whimpered.

Aeris peeked out from behind her fingers, for she had thrown her hands before her face to avoid having to see a number of her misfortunate flowers destroyed. "I think it's a person."

That much caught Nadia's interest due to the possibility of a necessity for medical attention. She rushed forward and immediately experienced conflicting emotions. On one hand, she was happy that the person was seemingly uninjured, but on the other the fact that it was Zack whom she was looking at, who had fallen through the chapel ceiling, was disconcerting because even though he appeared to be fine, there was certainly more to the story that she would have to learn. She scurried forth over Aeris's flowers and leaned over, on her hands and knees so that her face was parallel to his. "Zack!" she barked weakly. "Sweetie, darling, please wake up!" She reached over to lift his head but hesitated and withdrew. There would be no knowing the extent of the damage until he awoke and moving him now without the proper tools could mean furthering the damage.

"So, this is Zack?"

Nadia bit her lip and nodded than placed her hand on the side of Zack's face. "What happened?"

His brow furrowed. "Mom?"

Aeris giggled.

"Oh. I'm glad you're amused," Nadia snarled.

"I want to save my friend," Zack half mumbled, half slurred, "but I don't know what I should do."

"Zack. Helllooo?"

"Mom - - -" His eyes peeled open and he was staring deep into Nadia's which glowed brighter than usual upon seeing that he was okay.

"Zack!" She resisted the urge to throw her arms around him.

"Heaven?"

She laughed. "Again with that? No, church in the slums."

He sat up despite Nadia's frantic grumblings for him not to move, and threw a glance at Aeris. "An angel?"

A flare of jealousy erupted in Nadia's chest. Same old line.

However, Aeris smiled. "I'm Aeris. You came falling down from above. Gave me quite a scare, my poor flowers too."

"You okay?" he asked, taking note of Nadia's disgruntled visage.

"It's not me that we should be worried about. You are the one who just plummeted twenty-some-odd feet."

"And you saved me," he said with a grin, "again."

Nadia shook her head. "No, not really. Luck happens to be on your side."

A light chuckle arose from Zack. "So, Aeris, I'm Zack! Hmm, I've got to pay you back for ruining your flowers somehow."

Aeris gave a coquettish giggle. "No, no it's fine."

He then stood up while Aeris preoccupied herself by tending to her flowers some more.

"No, that just won't do! How about one date?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" She stopped and threw her arm out. "Don't step on the flowers!"

"What? Oh, sorry." Zack laughed. "Don't get me wrong. I don't have a vendetta against your flowers."

Nadia pulled back and sat on the pew. Their interaction was literally causing her to feel sick to her stomach.

"Normally people would be more careful around flowers," Aeris said quietly.

"Sorry about that," Zack reiterated. "But I'm not normal. Flowers are a pretty rare sight. In Midgar, these are a luxury."

"They only bloom here," she sighed. "The ones I have planted are growing pretty well too."

"Zack!" Nadia interrupted. "Let me show you around the slums. You've never been here before. Am I correct in my assumption?"

A stunned look momentarily occupied Zack's features as though he had forgotten Nadia's presence. "Yeah. Why? You spend a lot of time here?"

"My place of residence happens to be located in the slums."

When Nadia had offered to show Zack around, she had wanted to spend time with _Zack_. Therefore, when he invited Aeris along she was more than a little dissatisfied with the outcome. First of all, both Aeris and Zack were being perfectly charming toward each other. The fact that it was Nadia being treated as the third wheel, and not Aeris did little to improve Nadia's already acidic mood. To top it all off, in the end Zack decided to buy Aeris a present. It was a simple present, but more than he had ever given Nadia and that killed her, figuratively, not literally. Just when she thought she couldn't handle their incessant flirting any longer, Aeris took it another step further and offered to take Zack to the park on a "date."

That would have been the last straw, but Nadia cared too much about Zack's opinion and more than anything else, she didn't want to compromise her friendship with him. She could have stuck around. Aeris and Zack assured her that she wasn't a nuisance, but she ignored their words, reading between the lines. She knew when she was or was not wanted. Hence, she went home, to her apartment. There, she paced some more. Anticipating the outcome of this situation almost caused her more distress than pondering the consequences of what was happening to Zack above the plate while she was trapped below. From her pocket, she drew her phone and sat in silent thought for a moment. She needed to vent. Well, not so much needed as wanted, but who to call? Genesis and Angeal were gone. Zack and Aeris were together. All of the Turks were preoccupied, as was Kunsel. And Cloud? Well, Nadia had no idea where he was. Perhaps that is what made her wish to speak with him.

When Cloud's phone rang, he was in the middle of disposing a clone himself. Nevertheless, he answered his phone breathlessly. "Nadia?" he panted. "Where are you?"

"At my apartment," she replied in a pout. "And you?"

"I -" He jumped back, narrowly evading an attack. "I'm kind of busy."

"Fine."

It didn't take much observance to note the despair in her voice. "What's wrong?" Cloud asked quietly and ducked down into the sewers for a rest.

"Am I so transparent?"

"Kind of, but you're usually mysterious if that makes you feel any better."

"It does not, but I thank you for your valiant effort." Both sides of the conversation remained silent for several long seconds. "I beg your forgiveness, but I find it necessary for me to express my emotions. I all but threw myself at him earlier this evening." Her placidity gave way to tears. "Now he is with her!"

Cloud was taken aback. Nadia had never been your average girl. He had always doubted that she experienced any real emotional attachment to anyone in the romantic sense, but the conversation that they were holding completely disproved that theory. "'Him' is Zack, right? . . . Wait, you _threw_ yourself at him? That doesn't exactly sound like you. What's your definition of 'throwing'?"

"I suppose my 'throwing' of myself may be slightly more tame than what other's would consider throwing themselves, but I kissed him and I cannot get much more blunt than that unless I wish to verge on the whorish which I certainly do not."

Cloud massaged his brow.

"I did not know what I wanted, but now that I do I cannot have it because what I want does not want me."

"I don't know what to tell you, Nadia. I can't help. The only thing that you can really do is tell him, I guess."

"And if he doesn't feel the same I will have ruined a perfectly good friendship simply because I wanted more."

"Not necessarily, but I don't know him so I don't know how he'll react." He paused, waiting for a reply, but he didn't receive one. "I mean, not everyone lets those kind of things get in the way of their already existing relationship. Ya know?" Again, he paused. "You there?" This time his voice sounded panicked.

"I am. What is it? Is there a problem?"

His voice dropped lower than it had been previously. "I," he hesitated, "I think there's someone else here."

"Where?"

He scoffed. "Here. With me."

"I figured as much," she muttered with a scowl. "What I intended to ask was 'where are you?'"

"The sewers."

"Why are you in the sewers?"

"I needed a break from whoever is attacking the city. They were wearing me down." His voice remained low as he crept down the tunnel, sticking to the wall.

"Well you shouldn't have been fighting in the first place. You are only an infantryman. Do not misinterpret my words. I am not trying to belittle what you are. I am simply stating that infantrymen are trained to work in groups not on their own and you cannot take on strong opponents without assistance."

"These guys aren't so strong," he hissed and even though she had ordered him not to, he took slight offense to her insinuation of his inferiority. What happened in the moments to follow, although seemed to be critical in a negative way, it was ultimately beneficial, to Nadia at the very least. From over the phone, she could only vaguely hear what was happening in Cloud's midst, but she could venture a reasonably accurate guess, using her imagination. In her mind, she could see Cloud lowering his phone and preparing to take on whatever opponent he had met. Her version of whatever said opponent was greatly overestimated. She was imagining a monster of titanic proportions advancing on her beautiful Cloud and he advancing on it with a slight caution. She sat patiently on the phone, her anxiety slowly mounting until she could no longer contain her concern. After hearing the clatter of Cloud's phone dropping to the cement, she too dropped hers and rushed from her home.


	20. Chapter 20 March

**Author's Note :)**

**Uhm, hey. I'm not very good at getting these posted in a timely manner, but thanks to the two people who reviewed them. Haha, I'm kinda lame. But thanks for reading too. Some interesting things take place in this chapter. :D Finally! Anyhoo, I'll try to pick up the pace now that I'm out of school for a while**

Nadia ran. She pushed herself harder and faster than she ever had before. There was no doubt in her mind that she could handle simulated combat, and although she displayed a great air of confidence regarding this in Zack's presence, she really wasn't so convinced of her strength and prowess in a genuine battle. However, she also couldn't deny that her friend was in unquestionable danger, and she would be damned if immediately after losing Zack emotionally, she lost Cloud physically.

In the Zack situation, perhaps she was overreacting, but people are peculiar when they think they're in love. Until that day, Nadia hadn't realized how much she valued Zack. She valued him as more than a friend and it had taken her six months to realize it. He had been there, he had been available, but she just hadn't seen that he was what she wanted. And now she was in pain, seeing how close she had come to being able to call him her own.

Her pace slowed as she approached the ladder leading up into the Midgar sewer system. It ran below the hospital, but above the slums. After scaling the ladder, she eased herself onto the platform that would help her in entering the series of large pipes that Midgar called their sewer. As soon as the door was open, she was instantly hit with a foul smell that left her immobile for a few fractions of a second, and for one of those fractions, she considered turning back. After all, a cesspool was no place for short shorts. However, that notion was quickly forgotten and she proceeded. She closed the door behind her, hoping this would prevent her voice from escaping. She wanted her voice to echo. Maybe then Cloud and whoever or whatever he was facing would hear her.

"Hello!?" she called loudly. Her hands were cupped around her mouth in the hopes that it would give her voice greater volume. It did just as she predicted it would. She heard her own voice several times over, bouncing off of the surrounding walls. "Cloud!"

In the back of Nadia's mind, she wondered if he was calling back, but was being drowned out by other noises. The sewers weren't exactly silent, in fact they were rather noisy, but as she made her way through the piping, she could hear the sounds of struggle.

"Cloud!" she screamed for what felt like the millionth time.

This time, she heard her own name in response. "Nadia!" The sound of fear in his voice made her push herself even harder than previously, splashing through what she decided to pretend and pray was mostly water.

She wasn't exactly sure what happened next. At one point she had been doing something that was a mixture of running and wading then she was temporarily submerged under a liquid substance due to someone larger running into her.

Nadia broke through the surface of the . . . "Water," gasping for breath. Cloud followed suit, shakily. The pair stood and Nadia paused to wipe a blend some blood and dirty water away from his face. She would have stood a little longer to make sure that everything was in order, but as soon as Cloud had regained a small portion of his composure, he reached forward, grabbed Nadia's arm and began sprinting, dragging her along with him. They ran in silence because he didn't have time to speak and she didn't want to distract him, and they both knew where they were heading: the closest exit.

Said closest exit would lead them out into sector seven. The ladder leading up to it was rickety and definitely unsafe, but apparently, based on Cloud's reaction, it was safer than whatever may have been following them. He put his hands on her waist and hoisted her onto the ladder, but no sooner had he done that did Nadia feel his hands withdraw and hear him yell in a mixture of shock and pain.

Nadia spun and dropped back into the filthy water. What she assumed was a further evolved Genesis clone had tossed Cloud up against the pipe wall and was now slowly advancing on him. She did the only thing of which she could think. Without any hesitance she dodged beneath the clone's arm and threw herself in front of Cloud, pushing him as far against the wall as she could. The clone pulled back, unsure of how to react.

If she hadn't been positive of this before, she now knew without a shadow of a doubt that the clones would not hurt her. So even when it reached toward her, she did not flinch, but she did command it to halt its actions. It did not heed her orders, but it did not hurt her either. Instead, it picked her up and gently set her aside than continued to pursue Cloud in spite of Nadia's screams to stop.

She whipped out her handgun and began firing on the creature, but the bullets ricocheted off, leaving little more than a few dents. One of the bullets even managed to clip Nadia's shoulder. She yelped than clutched her arm and began screaming for help, hoping that someone above ground would hear her and save Cloud. She was growing desperate, but the clone did not even seem to notice her beating on him. He was too big and too far evolved. Then, because she couldn't do anything else, she began crying, sobbing really. Even though he was in danger, Cloud wanted to help. He wanted her to stop crying. He wanted her to feel better, but he could not get the words out to comfort her. He was busy getting the snot beat out of him.

Then suddenly, Nadia gasped and the clone released Cloud, but he did not fall into the sewer water. Someone caught him.

Nadia stared in awe at the large man who stood before her, who had destroyed the clone in one motion, with Cloud, now unconscious, slung over his shoulder. "Angeal," she whispered. Half of her wanted to punch him, hopefully knock out a few of his teeth. The other half wanted to kiss him, not in a romantic way, but a family kiss. "You . . . You have wings," her voice trembled as she spoke. "Where the hell have you been, you ass!?" She had decided to go with punching him and did so roughly on his shoulder.

Angeal actually winced. For such a small woman, Nadia contained much strength and he could not imagine how Genesis' clone had been able to handle her pounding on him for as long as she had.

"I missed you! I needed you! Where were you?"

"I'm here now," he replied quietly.

"But for how long?"

He moved forward, toward Nadia, expecting her to step back, but she did not. "You aren't afraid?"

"Why should I be? You are as harmless as you ever were. I have no reason to fear you. You wish I did. To be perfectly honest, I am just happy that you're here, though I understand that you will not be for long. I know you have more important matters to which you need to tend."

"I'm glad you understand" He lowered Cloud down and leaned him into Nadia's outstretched arms.

In her flats, she and Cloud were the same height, but his shoulders were much broader and he was loaded down with muscle. She had some muscle, just enough to barely carry him, with his feet dragging on the ground, piggy back style, but for now she was standing with her arms hooked beneath his armpits and clasped over his chest while she finished up talking with Angeal.

"Where are you going?"

"As you said, other matters."

"Yes, but . . ."

He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her gently on the top of the head, in a fatherly manner. "Nadia," he began lowly, "farewell."

She nodded then said those three nasty words that she rarely spoke aloud, and never to Angeal. "I love you."

"I love you too."

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Nadia had decided that the easiest way out of the sewers while carrying someone much heavier than herself on her back was to exit into the slums. It was a difficult journey and she nearly dropped Cloud more times than she cared to recall especially when descending on the ladder. Somehow, eventually, she managed to drag him back to her apartment and lay him on her bed where he could rest. She had needed to change the sheets anyway. She treated as many wounds as she could given the tools at her disposal. Overall, he seemed to not be too terribly injured although utterly exhausted and in desperate need of a shower. He was scraped, bruised, had a few cracked ribs, two gashes deep enough to need stitches and possibly a slight concussion, but there was no question as to whether or not he would survive.

As soon as he was taken care of, Nadia had time to think over the events of the day and take a well-deserved shower. It was an awful lot to happen within the course of twenty-four hours. Genesis attacking, seeing Angeal again after he'd gone through so much, kissing Zack and experiencing jealousy over a guy for the first time. She scowled. It was all too much.

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What she was watching, it was disgusting. For the past few minutes, Nadia had been watching the spectacle that was Kunsel and Misaki's relationship. They flirted shamelessly and the PDA was disgusting.

Nadia was about to make a snide comment, but the sound of someone strumming a guitar, the beginning of her ring tone, met her ears. She glanced at the caller id, than silenced her phone and slid it back into her lab coat pocket. Unfortunately, Kunsel had noticed and asked who it was.

Nadia shrugged her shoulders. "Just a guy."

"A guy? Zack?"

"Perhaps," she said coyly. "Why do you wish to know?"

She had been less passive since the attack on Midgar and less happy as well. Kunsel could not shake the feeling that something had happened outside of his knowledge, something other than the devastating assault. Zack had asked Kunsel to discover why Nadia had been avoiding him for almost two months. Therefore, this was his mission for the time being.

"Curiosity, and don't compare me to a cat. Did he do something wrong?"

"Kunsel!" Misaki yipped. "Keep out of her business!"

"Yes, I suggest that you take her advice," Nadia agreed.

"It isn't really fair though," protested Kunsel. "Does he even know what he did wrong?" he asked, already knowing the answer, though Nadia didn't respond the way he was expecting.

"I think it would be for the best if he did not know why I am so angry. It is for his own benefit that I am evading him."

"Is it?"

"Yes, that is why I said so. I have only his best interest at heart."

"Do you?"

"Why do you insist on speaking in questions?"

He moved to respond, but there it was again, that strumming of a guitar and beating of a drum then, "_Whistle for the boys now don't be shy. Give us -_"

This time Nadia answered and Kunsel listened closely to see if it was Zack on the line, but it was not.

"What do you want?" she demanded.

The voice on the phone sounded hesitant, maybe even startled. "It's Lazard."

"I know this. I do have your number stored in my phone."

Lazard paused for longer than was necessary "Yes, I should have known that."

"Have you called me to discuss Angeal? I heard you two met although I have not a clue as to what was discussed. Care to inform?"

"Confidential, but I need a favor."

She leaned forward against the reception desk, intrigued. "A favor of what sort? And how well will I be compensated?"

"I said favor, not job."

"Than you may as well start your search for someone new. I do not do favors for someone who has never provided me any assistance."

He scowled. "Fine, you'll get paid overtime."

"Much better. Would you like to assemble in the conference room?"

For a moment, Lazard forgot he was on the phone and nodded, than quickly corrected the mistake and said, "Yes," before hanging up.

She snapped her phone shut and smiled.

"What?" Kunsel asked.

"I have a job to do."

Without another word, she pranced off to the specified conference room with her first aid kit, and took a seat at the table. When she arrived no one else was present, but Tseng arrived within a few minutes and sat next to her.

"So, brief me."

"We're waiting for a few more people."

"So, this is a large scale mission?"

"Not exactly, we're only awaiting two infantrymen and a SOLDIER."

Nadia opened her mouth to inquire as to whether the SOLDIER was Zack, but quickly discarded this notion. The odds were against it being he, so she dropped the issue. "But I assume that I am only here because it is presumed that there will be too much danger to risk not sending along a physician?"

"Not necessarily. We're more concerned about the climate."

"Climate?"

"Yes, we're headed to Modeoheim."

"You were unable to tell me that piece of information earlier?" She glanced down at herself. She was hardly dressed for snow. Four-inch pumps and a businessy looking dress would definitely not keep her warm.

"To be fair, I didn't know you dressed so revealingly at work."

"Revealing!?" Sure, her top was a little low cut, but she had never gotten a complaint prior to this incident. She stated this fact aloud.

"Of course no one complained," Tseng chuckled. "You're reasonably attractive."

She was about to accuse him of sexual harassment when the door sung open and two infantrymen entered, one of whom she knew very well.

Instantly, Tseng's behavior had been forgotten, and she was on her feet, hugging Cloud. He hugged her back awkwardly. In her heels, she was now taller than he was. It didn't feel right, but he shrugged it off and continued embracing the girl who had saved his life.

"I take it you two know each other," a happy voice interjected.

Nadia pulled back sharply and found herself glaring at Zack. "Oh," she said quietly, than turned to look at Tseng. "_Another _thing you forgot to tell me."


	21. Chapter 21 March

The helicopter ride to Modeoheim was, to put it lightly, awkward. Zack was mad, which was rare, and he was trying to fight with Nadia, but she barely acknowledged him. To Tseng, it was funny. He even chuckled.

Finally, after forty-five minutes, Zack calmed and he stared Nadia in the eye. "Harley," he began as quietly as he could while still being heard over the helicopter, "what did I do wrong? Just tell me so I can fix it."

For a moment, Nadia considered refusing to tell him, but that would have taken it too far so instead, she muttered, "You didn't care."

"Care?" Zack gave a sigh, relieved that he was finally getting somewhere with this conversation though so far it wasn't much progress. He leaned forward and continued speaking. "What do you mean I didn't care? I obviously I do otherwise I wouldn't be putting so much effort into making things right again."

She glanced over at Tseng - who was piloting the helicopter - and the infantryman who was not Cloud. "I fear that I cannot say in present company."

"Tseng and the army dudes? They don't care."

Nadia and Tseng made eye contact during which time the latter smirked superciliously.

"I cannot. Though I wish I could." Her eyes narrowed at a random spot on the ground. Something occurred to her, and she looked up into Zack's eyes. They glowed faintly for an instant from the excitement of being able to look her in the face for the first time in almost two months, than they dimmed. Hers didn't glow in the first place. "When we were in the slums, you did not care about the elevator. You only saw someone else and I was nothing but a passing fancy."

"What do you mean?"

"She's all you see, and I am the old toy that you no longer have any interest in playing with, not while you have the other."

Tseng chuckled and Cloud glared at him for belittling his friend's emotions.

"I- I don't understand," Zack stuttered at the top of his lungs.

"She's jealous!" Tseng shouted, without looking back, but laughing loudly.

Zack was going to respond, but didn't get a chance. Before he could even open his mouth the helicopter shook dangerously as something bounced off the side.

"What was that!?" Nadia yelled.

"A monster is attacking! Everyone, secure yourselves."

Two people - Cloud and Zack - instantly leapt to Nadia's side to assist her in anyway necessary. As the copter shook jolted again, she instinctively grabbed onto the stronger of the two at her disposal - Zack. She would regret that later, but for now, she was scared and he was a big, strong, muscular guy. Zack wrapped his arms around her, and in the back of his mind, he was thinking about how good she smelled. He shook his head roughly, trying to rid himself of that thought. Then they were falling. Tseng was trying to pull them in for a crash landing on the side of a mountain. Everything was shaking and the alarms were sounding. The lights flickered, there was a loud crash and everything went black.

Zack was the first to emerge from the chopper, unharmed for the most part. He brushed some snow roughly from his clothing. Despite choosing to wear his winter uniform which was designed to combat the cold, he could still feel the frigidity of the snow through his jacket. "Harley! Tseng! Army guys!" Zack called against the wind. After a few moments of silence, up popped Tseng and one of the infantrymen.

Tseng threw down the radio receiver. "No signal," he mumbled.

Zack threw around a frantic glance. "_Harley_!"

"I'm right here!" her voice sounded and a few moments later she and Cloud hobbled out from behind the helicopter, the prior waving a red pump and first aid kit above her head. At first, Zack feared that she was limping, but it was just the misbalance from one foot being four inches further above the ground than the other and necessitated Cloud's holding of her elbow for support. "I'm okay," she assuaged and Zack's brow which had lowered and became stiff, softened.

"That's good." His stance further relaxed, but he could still sense the hostility and discretion in Nadia's. He would have to further investigate this matter, out of Tseng's and the infantrymen's ear shots. Nevertheless, he conjured up something that resembled a gung-ho attitude and said, "Well, it looks like we all got out pretty much unscathed somehow. So, it should all work out."

"Maintain your body temperature," was all that Nadia said in response and with a heavy shudder.

Zack shrugged himself out of his jacket and held it out to her. "Here."

She looked away. "I cannot accept. It would be severely inappropriate."

"You're the one who said to keep our body temperatures up. Just take it. What were you thinking? You'll freeze to death. That's really no way to dress in Modeoheim."

"Yes, I acknowledge that, however, I was uninformed of the requirement of my presence on this mission let alone the destination."

Zack didn't retract his offer; instead his face grew more intense and insistent. He brandished the coat in front of her. "Taaaaaaake it."

She shook her head, but caved shortly after and snatched the jacket from his hand. "Fine, but I am only doing this to appease you."

He nodded. "Of course."

With some help from Cloud, Nadia pulled on the coat and her left shoe.

Tseng waited patiently then looked at Zack. "As expected, we'll be depending on you to get us through this terrain."

"Yeah, yeah. I get it. I'm a country boy. That it?"

Instead of dignifying this question with a response, Tseng continued as though Zack had never spoken. "If we continue this way, we should end up in town."

"Harley." Zack held out a hand for Nadia to take.

"Thank you, but I am comfortable with Cloud."

Zack chuckled. "Look, I'm sure you two get along fine, but that's not what I was thinking about. I meant, you're gonna get frostbitten toes if you don't get a piggyback ride or something. So, c'mon, I'm sure he doesn't wanna hafta carry you, and I'm willing and it'll be less of a strain on me."

Nadia glanced doubtfully at Cloud. It was true. She was almost taller than Cloud without heels. Then she scowled. Why was Zack so convincing? Lately he had always gotten his way with her. She didn't even reply this time. She tiptoed over to him. He bent his knees and she leapt onto his back wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. "However, this is the last decision you will convince me to make."

Zack nodded. "I can handle that." He waved a hand over his head. "Alright, everyone. Follow me." He trudged forward.

Nadia sighed and rested her head on his shoulder. It wasn't actually a bad ride. His body heat kept her warm and hers did the same for him in return.

"So, what was that?" Zack inquired. "About toys?"

Cloud glanced up from his feet. He was the only person in the small squadron who could keep pace with Zack.

Momentarily, he and Nadia made eye contact. She had previously addressed this problem with Cloud so she experienced no difficulty in discussing it in his presence now. "I may as well. I kissed you. Do you not remember?"

Zack deliberated for a moment then nodded. "Yeah, I remember."

"Do you recall what occurrences came to pass in the slums?"

Again, he nodded. "I met Aeris."

"'Met?' No, that was a portion of what happened, but I intended to speak of the event past that incident, or the series of events."

"The ribbon?"

"Partially."

"Like Tseng said, she's jealous," Cloud said suddenly. "She's mad that she kissed you and then you were flirting with her best friend even though you clearly knew Nadia liked you." He looked over at Nadia apologetically. "Sorry, but you weren't getting anywhere quickly."

Zack eyed Cloud for a few seconds then smiled. "You're doing pretty good. Tseng and the other guy are so far behind."

Cloud bobbed his head up and down. "I'm from the countryside too."

"Oh, yeah? Where?"

"Nibelheim."

Both Nadia and Zack chuckled.

"I didn't know you were a country boy," Nadia said warmly.

"Yeah . . . What about you two?"

Zack adjusted Nadia. "Well, she's from Banora and me? I'm from Gongoga!" He said his hometown's name proudly.

It was Cloud's turn to laugh, but he did so much quieter than the other two had.

"What're you laughing about?" Zack was smiling. "Do you even know Gongoga?"

"No," Cloud confessed, "but it sounds kind of hickish."

"Ditto Nibelheim."

"You know it?"

Zack shook his head. "But there's a mako reactor, right? Midgar has the most mako, but everyone else has none."

The last portion had been spoken by both Cloud and Zack. Nadia grinned. Two of her favorite people were getting along so well. It made her feel almost warm despite the cold, and her reserve toward Zack began to melt again.

"Hey, Tseng!" Zack called over his shoulder. "With me and . . ."

"Cloud."

"With me and Cloud you got nothing to worry about."

Tseng rolled his eyes. By the end of this trip, his suit would be ruined, and that was something that deeply irritated him.

Zack's pace slowed as he approached a ledge overlooking their destination. He still didn't let Nadia down. She peered over his shoulder and murmured, "That's the place, or rather, a roadblock on our way to the place." There were many guards pacing the facility and even though everyone knew that taking care of them would be no problem for Zack, it still seemed best to make a quiet entrance.

"We should wait for the others to catch up," Zack said decisively.

Once again, Cloud spoke up without warning. "What's SOLDIER like?"

Nadia stared at Zack, long and hard, curious as to what his response would be. Cloud already knew her opinion, but that hardly mattered.

"Hrm," Zack grumbled quietly. "I'm not sure if I understand. . . . I don't really know how to answer that." His eyes glowed faintly as Nadia settled her chin back down onto his shoulder and leaned her head into his neck. This didn't go unnoticed by Cloud. "Well, you'll understand once you get it in."

"Conflicting emotions," Nadia stated matter-of-factly. "All SOLDIERS have them. You will too."

"If I even get in." Cloud frowned.

"You will," Nadia assured.

"Yeah, even I got in pretty easy."

Tseng approached from behind and stared for a while at the building that laid before them. "This facility is used for doing excavation tests on mako."

"Mmkay." Zack crouched over and allowed Nadia to lower herself from his back. "I'll go check it out."

"Don't stir up too much trouble. We need to be as subtle as possible."

Nadia nodded in agreement. "And be careful!" For a moment, she hadn't been able to control the emotion in her voice. Shortly after, she covered her mouth, sheepishly. "Keep your body temperature in mind," she added quietly.

"Right. SOLDIERs aren't idiots. Keep your eyes open Cloud. I'm about to show you what we're made of." Zack bore a large grin than sprinted off down the hill.

Nadia's eyes were glued intensely to her friend as he swiftly and subtly made his way through the compound. It wasn't difficult to see her anxiety. She wasn't even attempting to hide it. The second that he disappeared from view, Nadia said, "I do not like the this vicinity . . ." beneath her breath, but still loudly enough to be heard by Tseng. "Cloud!" she barked and whipped about. "Let us go after him. If any harm were to befall him, I would . . . Well, I cannot be sure as to what I would do. I cannot imagine my life without him, and -"

"I get it." Cloud smiled. He had never before seen Nadia behave the way she did around or toward Zack. It wasn't a negative thing. She simply seemed happier when she was around Zack, even when she was agitated with one thing or another. "Is it . . ." Cloud glanced at Tseng, "okay?"

The latter heaved a shoulder than allowed it to fall. "Why not? He may, after all, need some back up."

"Thanks!" Cloud clutched Nadia's hand and began leading her down the steep hill, the path which Zack had taken. It took them a great deal longer to reach their destination than it had Zack for a few reasons. One of them was that Nadia kept tripping in her heels and another that Cloud was paralyzingly frightful of being sighted by the enemies.

"Be calm," Nadia ordered, and ran her hand down Cloud's face. The motion was less of a romantic gesture and more of a motherly one. "We will be fine."

He took solace in her words if only for a moment and proceeded into the compound, slowly and stealthily. Nadia couldn't help but feel sorry for her toes. They were red and bleeding, and ruining her beautiful shoes. They were neither new nor expensive, but they were cute and comfortable which in turn made them practical. Cloud led her into the warehouse where she removed her shoes and tossed them into a corner before proceeding over to the railing and peering into the deep, dark, seemingly endless abyss of pipes and rusting metals.

"Creepy place," commented Cloud with a shudder.

Nadia nodded. "Not at all Genesis' style, yet completely Hollander's." She scanned the room in search for a sign of Zack. Then, she saw it. One of the Genesis copies, lying face down on the cement ground, surrounded by a small puddle of blood, immediately in front of an elevator. "He must have gone that way." She held out a hand which Cloud - now the same height as Nadia - readily accepted.

Ever since Genesis' attack on Midgar, Nadia had hated elevators. If she hadn't been in an elevator, she probably wouldn't have made the mistake of kissing Zack or so she told herself.

"I wonder how sturdy this thing is," Cloud muttered absentmindedly, observing the rust coated walls.

"Oh please!" Nadia whimpered. "Let's not think on this now."

"You don't like elevators much, do you?" Cloud chuckled quietly.

"Bad memories," she sighed and stroked the wall from which little flakes of rusted metal fell. Her brow suddenly creased. "Do you hear yelling?"

Cloud leaned the side of his face against the still closed door. "Yeah, I do," he stated then stepped back. "Why aren't the doors opening? We've stopped."

Nadia tapped impatiently on the "door open" button several times and patted herself down, instinctually checking for the gun that she had forgot to bring. Silently, she cursed the absence of her weapon. "C'mon," she murmured.

Eventually, and with a frightening creak the doors slid open only for a very flustered Hollander to rush forward and straight into Cloud's chest. Nadia gave a small scream but quickly composed herself as Cloud restricted Hollander's arms and forced him back out of the elevator. Nadia too emerged out onto a large platform, lined with a guard railing and her eyes instantly fell upon the two people standing in the center of the platform, swords drawn.

Zack was the first to speak. "Cloud!" he sounded almost relieved to have back up. "Good work!"

Even as Zack had been speaking, Nadia had been moving. She sprinted forward and threw her arms around her childhood friend, the man whom Zack had been willing to face in battle, Genesis. "Genesis," Nadia sighed into her friend's jacket and breathed in his familiar scent. "What has happened to you?" She reached up and brushed a few graying strands of hair out of his face. "What has he done to you?" It was devastating for her to see someone, once so youthful, once so attractive in the condition Genesis was currently.

"This," Genesis stepped away, breaking Nadia's grip and held out both hands, "is the result of the degradation."

"I see," Nadia mumbled quietly to her feet.

"Do you?"

Her eyes flicked up to his face and noted that he kept subtly glancing in Cloud and Hollander's direction. Thus she adjusted her positioning from standing between Zack and Genesis to being between the latter and Cloud. "I believe so."

"I do not want to hurt you, Nadia. It is furthest from my desires."

"But why do you wish to do harm to Hollander?"

"Why do you wish to protect him?"

"I do not, but it is in yours and Angeal's best interest."

"She's right!" Hollander yelped. He had stopped struggling against Cloud. "Nobody knows where the Jenova cells are. Not even Hojo! You'll never find them."

"Then I shall willingly accept my fate, but I'll take the world with me!" He brandished his sword at Nadia.

She flinched and clenched her eyes shut, but refused to be moved awaiting the final death blow that Genesis was about to deliver. It was an honorable enough way to die, defending more Cloud than Hollander, and at least it would be at the hands of someone she loved and for someone she loved. She relaxed her frame, but the impact never came. What did reach her was a loud _clang_, the sound of two swords clashing. She opened her eyes and found Zack standing in her defense just in time for Hollander to begin struggling and liberating himself from Cloud, tossing the latter to the ground.

That was enough to steal Nadia's focus away from the more pertinent danger that laid before her. "Cloud," she yelped and rushed to his side.

Zack threw back Genesis. "Harley! Go!" he ordered.

In return she glared at him. "No! Don't you dare hurt him!" She was addressing Zack, but speaking of Genesis. "I cannot allow it. Never!" She then appealed to Genesis. "Do not do this! Come back with us. It is not too late. I miss you. I want back my friend. I want you to come with me!" Her voice softened. "Please."

"_The mysterious abyss 'tis the Gift of the Goddess. In pursuit of this gift we take flight_," Genesis recited in a monotone.

Nadia scowled, but nevertheless said, "_Within the heart's water surface a hopeless wander will flow. Like ripples to waves come forth the dreams below_. I don't want to talk to the writer of _Loveless_. I want to talk to you."

Before she could say anymore or hear what Genesis had to say in response, Cloud grabbed her wrist and dragged her onto the elevator. The last thing she saw as it slowly rose was two of her best friends waging war on each other.


	22. Chapter 22 March

"What the hell, Cloud!?" Nadia was very unhappy with her friend's actions. In reaction, she shoved him into the wall. She would feel bad about it later, but for now, she was simply angry.

"We have to go after the doctor," Cloud replied calmly.

"Do not be ridiculous! Tseng is perfectly capable of taking care of Hollander."

Cloud sighed and shook his head. "You wouldn't have been able to stop them."

"You do not know that."

"Maybe I don't, but either way, Zack will be fine."

"It is not Zack about whom I was worried. I know of what he is capable."

Cloud's chin inclined so that he was eyeing the ceiling. This whole thing was rather frustrating. "I'm sorry," he lied. There was no way in hell that he was sorry. He had assisted Zack in potentially saving Nadia's life and he was not going to apologize for that. Well, not sincerely, at least. "But . . . Everything will be okay."

"That is a promise that you cannot make."

"Sure I can." The silence that followed was an uncomfortable one that prompted Cloud's harried tapping of the "door open" button. "Fine, whatever, maybe I can't, but all we can do to help Genesis is to track down Hollander. Hollander can save him from . . . The uh . . . Uhm, depravation . . . Process." Cloud bit his lip. That had not been the correct terminology. This he already knew, but Nadia further confirmed it by eyeing him, torn between amusement and disgust.

"Degradation," she amended.

"Yeah, degradation."

Finally, the elevator opened and both Cloud and Nadia emerged, the latter more hesitant than the prior. They traveled in silence, out into the snow. Both were done arguing. Nadia wasn't exactly used to getting her way, but she was used to fighting for what she wanted. However, now she could not muster up the passion. It was a problem she had been experiencing for a few months. She had almost reached it again, when dealing with Genesis, but when she had left the elevator, she had left her fire. They made their way through a tunnel and by the time they had reached the actual town of Modeoheim Nadia's bare feet were stinging and bleeding. She glanced posterior at her bloodied footprints, left in the snow.

"At least it'll be easy for Zack to follow us."

Cloud laughed, although it was forced. "Would you like for me to carry you?"

Nadia hastily shook her head. "I despise relying on others. Mr. Fair is the only person who ever gets his way in these circumstances."

"'Mr. Fair?'"

She nodded. "I must remain professional. I had forgotten that over the course of a few months. It is remarkable what new relationships can do to one's life, is it not?"

"I dunno," Cloud replied. "I think it's good for you. You seemed better when you weren't picking fights with Zack."

It was Nadia's turn to question Cloud's words. "'Picking fights?' Is that what you think I am doing? Do you deny that I have every right to be angry with Zack? You honestly cannot believe that I am being cold toward him without good reason."

"I don't!" Cloud yelped desperately. "I think you're being a little childish is all."

They paused and glanced about their snowy surroundings. The town of Modeoheim was completely abandoned or so it seemed. Other than the whole broken down aspect, it looked as though it would have been a nice place to live.

"Oh!" Cloud pointed in Tseng's direction, who was waving for Cloud and Nadia to come near from beside a warehouse.

They hurried to Tseng's side.

"Hollander went this way," he informed. "It is imperative that we capture him. He holds some of Shinra's deepest secrets."

"And he can save Angeal and Genesis."

Tseng hesitated, but still muttered, "Yes, that too." Than followed it up with the words, "This way," spoken so quickly that it was difficult to decipher the first word from the second and he rushed off down another path while Cloud and Nadia followed on his heels, Nadia quietly poking fun at how devastated Tseng would be once he got time to inspect his now utterly ruined Sangre and Lovato - a very expensive brand name - suit which he had certainly bought with his own money. Shinra would never shell out enough cash to purchase that kind of suit as a uniform. As far as Nadia knew, Shinra would give them cheap suits and if they wished to buy more expensive ones, that was up to them, but it had to fit guidelines and had to be procured using the Turk's own hard-earned gil.

"You seem nervous," Tseng commented on Nadia's demeanor. He had already intuitively derived the basics of the status quo at hand.

"Why would I not be? Either outcome will be negative." She scowled at Tseng. "However it is not something that I enjoy discussing. I would much rather forget about the situation until it is upon us."

"And be caught by surprise?"

"It is better than lingering on the possibilities."

Cloud bobbed his head in agreement despite Nadia's lack of emotion behind her words. She seemed unfazed by the current circumstances now that she was separate from it. _It must be nice_ Cloud thought _to be able to disconnect like that._ He liked Nadia. It was something about her maternal reactions to certain things, but he could never imagine her dating or anyone ever dating her. Not because she was ugly. Not because she was unlovable, but because she was odd. She did not seem the type that one would date. The kind with whom one would be friends? Yes, but never girlfriend material. Hence, he found the relationship between her and Zack unusual and he could not bring himself to fully understand it.

"Okay, I'll drop the issue," Tseng replied on the deeper end of the baritone scale. He looked away from Cloud and Nadia and toward a building above which sat a large sign that read _Modeo Bathhouse_. He then came to a sudden halt, his lips drawn into a thin, straight line.

"Is something wrong?" Nadia questioned, she too coming to a stop.

"Ward," was Tseng's simple, one-word response. "The other infantryman. He was here. . . ."

Nadia scanned the horizon than winced at the sight of blood that was not her own, contrasting sharply with the stark white snow. "I think I have found him, Tseng," she mumbled weakly and pointed one shaking finger in Ward's body's direction.

It was glowing green, his soul being absorbed by the lifestream as Tseng approached. This indicated that it was a fresh death. "Appears to be an animal attack," Tseng stated, although even he recognized the unlikelihood of this hypothesis's accuracy. No Shinra infantryman would be killed so easily by an animal.

"Is that truly what you think?"

Tseng didn't give a direct response. "Looking at the lacerations, I don't know what else it could be. . . . There's nothing we can do for him now. We're on a deadline. It'd be best if we kept moving."

"That seems a little inhumane does it not?"

"Perhaps," Tseng continued his trek to the bathhouse, "but we have no choice."

Nadia bit her lip, but still allowed herself to be led into the bathhouse by Cloud. Inside the bathhouse, the surroundings were dark and dilapidated. Beams of wood had toppled from the ceiling, effectively blocking several doorways, which made it significantly easier to track Hollander. It was dusty and smelt strongly of mold and - because the front portion of the building served as a restaurant - old alcohol. Nadia strolled forward, Cloud still holding her hand, toward the path that Hollander had so clearly taken. Simultaneously, there was a loud crash and she and Cloud were thrown against a wall. Although she had bashed her head pretty good at the end of her short flight, she was out of commission for a very short time. She quickly jumped back to her feet and began trying to pull Cloud to his. She glimpsed in the direction from which the blast had come. There stood Tseng, gun drawn, staring down several large creatures. Nadia ducked and snatched up a barely sentient Cloud's gun. It was a much bulkier weapon than she was used to wielding. Nevertheless, she directed the barrel in the largest of the monster's direction.

"Nadia!" Tseng snarled, firing off a few rounds into a charging monster's head. "Take Cloud and find Hollander, now." The monster fell to the ground.

"No, that is not something that I can do. I have already left three people behind today, and I will not do that to another of my comrades."

Tseng then did something that had he been in the company of anyone else would have been considered a mistake. He turned his back on the enemy. A few of them pounced, but were easily taken out by bullets from what was now Nadia's gun. "How many times do I have to explain this to you? We _must_ get Hollander!" He waited impatiently for Nadia to reply, but she did not. She kept her gun leveled at their enemies, her mouth slightly agape and her eyes wide in what resembled panic. "Nadia?" He was afraid to turn around, but after a gulp did so anyway. His voice lowered, "Oh, shit . . ."

He and Nadia began firing round after round into the now large hole in the back wall that had been created by a titanic wave of monsters that didn't seem to have an end coming any time soon. Tseng backed up until he and Nadia were side-by-side. By the time this had happened, Cloud had gotten to his feet. He stared in disbelief at the advancing monsters than over his shoulder at the door they had been heading to before being so rudely interrupted. He knew that Nadia and Tseng couldn't hold the monsters off for much longer. Their numbers were too vast. There were approximately twenty inside the confines of the front room and more lingering outside.

"Nadia," Cloud began quietly.

"Not now, hun," she growled in response and continued firing her gun until she ran out of ammo at which point she spun around to glare at Cloud. "Do you have any more?" she demanded.

"Any more what?"

"Any more ammunition."

"Oh. Oh, yeah!" He began his search for more bullets and found a few clips in a holster that had been specially designed to hold them. He fumbled them into Nadia's outstretched hand, saying, "Take it!"

It was in the moment when Nadia was reloading her gun that Tseng began backing away from the gaping hole in the wall and toward Cloud and the door that led into the next room.

When Nadia looked, to see in the face of what Tseng was being a coward, she fully understood. It was what some books that she had read described as a hippogriff. It was much stronger than those they had fought off in the moments leading up to this, that much could be derived by simply observing the creature at hand. Tseng, keeping his gun trained on the creature, leaned close to Nadia's ear and in a whisper said, "I think we should . . ." he paused a brief moment during which time he gulped, "run."

The creature lowered its head, appearing as though it were about to launch its attack. Nadia did not comment on one very important thing that she had caught a glimpse of and instead nodded in agreement, turned on her heel than fled. Tseng was the last to take his own advice. He pushed the doors closed behind him and leaned against them, breathing heavily.

"What the hell was that!?" He stared daggers at Nadia accusingly. He had seen it too and apparently, that made Nadia liable for the consequences to come.

"Woah!" Even Cloud's authoritative voice was meek around Tseng. "Why're you looking at her like it's her fault!?"

"Do not scold him, Cloud. I will take responsibility for Angeal's copies' actions. I should have been able to stop him earlier, so this is no one's fault besides my own."

"That's not true!" Cloud's voice was more intense than before. "You can't encourage that, Tseng." He turned to Nadia and clasped his hands around her shoulders. "You can't blame yourself for this. Tseng, you're such a . . . jerk. . . ." The last word came out weakly as though he had been planning to use a stronger word until the time to say it was actually the present.

"She acknowledges what she needs to take credit for and I won't ask for any more than that. So, Genesis isn't the only one who can clone himself? Were you aware of this, Nadia?"

"I am now," she breathed weakly and winced at the heavy blow on the door. It sounded as though someone had thrown the entirety of their weight against the thick set of doors. In spite of their depth, the sound of wood splintering could still be heard throughout the bathing room. She stepped before Cloud and began backing him toward the stairs.

Tseng shook his head, but maintained his station at the door.

"Cloud, we are going to be all right," Nadia assuaged. She didn't want to abandon Tseng, but she also did not want Cloud to be injured in the crossfire. Therefore, she continued forcing him slowly up to the second floor.

The door was flung open after another battering, sending Tseng flying toward his two allies. He barreled into them, toppling them over. The monster entered.

Nadia flinched at the idea that occurred to her in that moment, but it was her only choice. She stepped forward, silently pushing aside Tseng. It had almost worked with the Genesis copies, and Angeal had always been more understanding than Genesis. She spread her arms out wide and stared confidently at the Angeal clone. "Stop!" she ordered firmly and her voice did not quiver in the slightest. "It is not in your nature to kill. You have been inured, but I know that you are still in there . . . Somewhere. And I refuse to be moved!" She shot a glance over her shoulder at Cloud and Tseng then nodded for them to go.

At first Cloud resisted, but Tseng wouldn't take no for an answer. He latched onto Cloud's arm and refused to release him until he had dragged him up the remaining stairs that laid before them.

The clone took a few steps back and it was the real Angeal's turn to emerge. He stepped toward Nadia and she took a step back in return. Her heart was pumping faster than ever. She could feel it in her chest as though it was trying to break through her ribs and she could hear it clearly in her ears. She was sure that Angeal could hear it too. That was not necessarily true. However, he did perceive her trepidation.

"Nadia."

In response, she gave a trembling nod.

"Are you frightened? . . . Of me?"

"You are . . ." she combed her mind for the precise word that would convey her thoughts, but the best she could come up with was "different."

He nodded posterior. "Wing?"

"No." Nadia shook her head. "You always had wings to me. You were always an angel. Different from when you were in the sewers."

"Funny though, isn't it?"

"What is?" Nadia braced her hand on the railing. She was more than scared. She was terrified. Her friend of a little more than seventeen years intended to do her some harm. She could sense it in the way he advanced.

Angeal's lips formed a smirk. "How the only time that you did not call me your angel was the first time you saw me in this condition." He wasn't mad although there was some anguish in his face. Other than that, he seemed to be perfectly at ease with what was happening. He took another step forward and reached toward Nadia.

This time she did not simply match his pace, she fled, up the stairs even though she knew it was a futile war to wage. "Get out of here!" she screamed at Cloud and Tseng as she rounded the corner at the top of the stairs.

Tseng turned to continue on his way to the boiler room, but he was picked up and thrown against a wall by Angeal who had flown up to the loft-like second floor. This time, Cloud tried his best to block Angeal's path toward Nadia.

"Don't you dare touch her!"

"Cloud," Nadia mumbled quietly.

"You've protected me all this time. It's time for me to protect you."

Cloud's courage didn't have any effect on Angeal. He still loomed ever closer. When he was standing immediately in front of Cloud, he drew his elbow back and slugged Cloud, hard, right in the face than lifted him by the front of his shirt only to throw him to the ground.

"Angeal . . ." names seemed to be the only words that Nadia could spit out at the time, but she broke that misconception within seconds. "Please, do not do what it is you are considering."

Angeal eyed her for a short time. Even though she was clearly scared out of her wits, he could still see the love in her eyes and her desire to protect him. "Do you know what my ultimate goal is?"

"No," Nadia began, kneeling beside Cloud to check his pulse.

"Is that . . . The boy from the sewers?"

She nodded silently and pushed a few strands of hair behind her ear. Cloud seemed as healthy as he could be given the circumstances, which allowed her to breathe slightly easier.

"You care about him."

"Of course . . . I care about you too. I have since the day I met you, the day you became my guardian angel."

"You have poor choice in angels."

She shook her head and looked as though she was about to smile. "Tell me."

"Tell you what?"

"Tell me your ultimate goal."

Angeal contemplated this for a moment. "There's no turning back now for Genesis and me. We both know it, but he will not concede defeat. He keeps pushing the boundaries. I, on the other hand, have always been much more reasonable."

"I would never deny that."

"I can see my future now. . . . Zack made me a promise."

Nadia rose. "Zack is a man of his word."

"Normally, yes."

The apprehension began to rise in Nadia's chest.

"He said that his enemy would be all that creates suffering." Angeal laid a heavy hand on Nadia's shoulder. Running was no longer an option. "I have become just that, but I think . . . He may need some incentive to keep his promise, and that . . ." he paused to wrap his large hand around Nadia's thin neck, ". . . is where you come in."


End file.
